κεντέω

Forms

κεντέω (kentéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱent- (“to sting, prick”).^[2][1][3] The old form is the sigmatic aorist κένσαι (kénsai) of Homer; the present and its later tenses were made beside it, on an unknown model.^[2][4][5] Before a dental consonant the stem regularly ended in /s/, as in κεστός (kestós, “stitched”) and κέστρα (késtra, “pointed hammer”).^[5]

Outside Greek only scattered nouns correspond: Old High German hantag (“pointed”), from Proto-Germanic *handa- (formed like κοντός (kontós, “pole”)), and Latvian sīts (“hunting spear”).^[2][4][5] Celtic words such as Breton kentr (“spur”) and Welsh cethr (“nail”) were borrowed from Latin centrum.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has only the aorist infinitive, once, of goading a horse on in the chariot race (Iliad 23.337).^[6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 6th century BC it is used of goading a person like an ox or a horse (Theognis, Aristophanes), and Pindar uses it of the rocky bed that chafes the back of Typhon (Pythian 1.28).^[8][7] It came to mean pricking or jabbing a person or the eyes with any sharp point (Herodotus, Euripides), and in the passive being pricked as a torture (Thucydides 4.47, Xenophon).^[8][7] It also meant stabbing with a sword: Sophocles' “do not stab the dead” (Antigone 1030) and, metaphorically, “stab with guile” (Ajax 1245).^[7][8]

Bees and wasps “sting” with it in Aristophanes' Wasps and in Theocritus, where a bee stings Eros.^[7][8] In comedy (Mnesimachus) it is a vulgar word for sex.^[7] The Septuagint uses it once, in Job 6:4, for piercing.^[7][9] Its derivative κέντρον (kéntron, “goad, point”) is the source of Latin centrum.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the aorist of goading a horse.^[6][7]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of goading a person.^[8][10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of rock chafing Typhon's back.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses the passive of men pricked as a torture.^[8][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of the sting of wasps.^[7][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus has a bee sting Eros.^[7][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To goad, spur on (a horse; a person, as if a beast).^[8][7]
2. To prick, jab with a sharp object; passive, to be pricked (as a torture).^[8][7]
3. To stab with a sword; figuratively, to stab with guile.^[8][7]
4. Of bees and wasps, to sting.^[7][8]
5. To chafe, prickle.^[8]
6. (comedy, vulgar) To have sex with.^[7]

Word family

• κέντρον (kéntron)
• κεστός (kestós)
• κέστρα (késtra)
• κέντρων (kéntrōn)

Related words

• κοντός (kontós)
• Latin centrum

Usage notes

The Suda records the proverb “to goad the colt round the turning post”, said of impetuous haste.^[7][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Adler, Ada, ed. (1928–1938), Suidae Lexicon, 5 vols, Leipzig: Teubner