Etymologically
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κεραΐζω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ke.ra.íz.dɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ce.raˈi.zo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ce.raˈi.zo/[1]

Forms

κεραΐζω (keraḯzō) [1]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“to damage, break”), through a two-syllable stem κερα- (kera-) extended with -ίζω (-ízō).[2][1] All its other forms are built on this secondary present, which probably replaced an older primary verb,[2][3][4] just as δαΐζω (daḯzō) “to cut apart” extends δαίω (daíō).[3]

The same stem has an exact counterpart in the aorist Sanskrit अशारीत् (aśarīt) and in the preterite Old Irish do-cer (“he fell”), and the Sanskrit nasal present शृणाति (śṛṇā́ti, “breaks”) continues the old primary verb.[2][3][4] Frisk and Chantraine also compare Old Irish ar-a-chrin (“perishes, falls apart”), a connection that Beekes notes is no longer accepted.[2][3][4] In Greek the stem is also found in ἀκέραιος (akéraios) “unharmed” and perhaps in ἀκήρατος (akḗratos).[2][3] Beekes treats κεραυνός (keraunós) “thunderbolt” as an independent formation and separates κήρ (kḗr) “death”, while Chantraine thinks the thunderbolt is certainly related.[2][4]

Ancient scholars derived it from κέρας (kéras) “horn”, as if of animals that strike with their horns, from the word for “death” named above, or from κείρω (keírō) “to cut”.[5] Cunliffe and LSJ still compare the verb for “to cut”.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it means to cut down and slay enemies and to ravage or sack a city or a farmstead; a lion “ravages” the folds of men.[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed mostly poetic.[4] Herodotus used it in prose for sacking a city and a house and for sinking ships, and also for plundering goods.[8][7] Pindar used it of killing animals and of Zeus bringing down Typhon, and Euripides of marriage beds wrecked by deaths.[8]

Later prose writers such as Josephus and Aelian still used it for plundering houses and stores.[7][4] The derivatives were very rare: κεραϊστής (keraïstḗs) “destroyer” is an epithet of Hermes found once, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, and κεραϊσμός (keraïsmós) “destruction” is late.[4][3]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of slaying warriors and sacking cities.[6][7]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of killing animals.[8][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of sacking Sardis and of sinking ships.[7][8][9]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses the passive of marriage beds wrecked by death.[8][9]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Josephus uses it of plundering houses.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To ravage, sack or lay waste a city or dwellings.[7][8][6]
  2. To cut down, slay; of a warrior, to wreak havoc among the enemy; of lions, to prey on.[6][8]
  3. To destroy or sink ships.[8]
  4. To plunder, carry off goods or people.[8][7]

Word family

  • κεραϊστής (keraïstḗs)
  • κεραϊσμός (keraïsmós)
  • ἀκέραιος (akéraios)
  • κεραυνός (keraunós)
  • δαΐζω (daḯzō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c d e f Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge