κοίτη

Forms

κοίτη (koítē) f (genitive κοίτης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from κοι- (koi-), the o-grade of the root of κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie”), with the suffix -τη (-tē).^[2][3][4] It sits beside the masculine κοῖτος (koîtos) “bed, sleep”, which Homer uses more often.^[2][5] The root is Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie down”).^[1][6]

Cognate with Sanskrit शेते (śete) “lies” and Sanskrit शय्या (śayyā́) “bed”, and perhaps with Latin cunae “cradle”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it once, in the Odyssey (19.341), where Odysseus says he has spent many nights on a wretched bed.^[7][8][4]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy κοίτη is above all the marriage bed, and by metonymy marriage and sexual union; it is also a sickbed, the “bed” of the dead, a cave used as a bed, and the lair of an animal or the nest of a bird.^[8][9] Herodotus uses it for bedtime, and Plato speaks of the winds “at rest”.^[9] The grammarian Ammonius distinguishes it from φωλεός (phōleós): κοίτη is used of people, φωλεός of the dens of snakes.^[10] Papyri use it for the quarters of guards, and later writers, from Procopius on, for the bed of a river.^[8]

The Septuagint and the New Testament use it for a bed and for the marriage bed, but also for sexual intercourse and for a seminal emission: Paul's phrase in Romans 9:10 means that Rebecca conceived children by one man.^[11][12] The word is the source of ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoítēs).^[1]

Medieval Greek kept it for a bed, for bedtime and for the marriage bed.^[13] In Modern Greek κοίτη (kíti) is learned: it means a river bed, and “bed” only in the legal phrase for separation from table and bed.^[14][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it once, of a bed.^[7][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the marriage bed.^[8][15]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for bedtime, and Euripides for the lair of an animal.^[9][8]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for a bed, the marriage bed and sexual intercourse.^[11]
• 6th century AD – Procopius uses it for the bed of a river.^[8][15]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means a river bed.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bed, a place to lie down; a bedstead.^[8][9]
2. The marriage bed; by metonymy, marriage.^[8][9]
3. The lair of a wild animal, the nest of a bird.^[8][9]
4. Going to bed; bedtime.^[9]
5. (figurative) Rest, abeyance, of the winds.^[9]
6. (Koine) Sexual intercourse; in the plural, sexual excesses.^[11][12]
7. (Koine) A seminal emission; to “have a κοίτη by” a man is to conceive by him.^[11]
8. Quarters, of guards.^[8]
9. A parcel of land, a lot.^[2]
10. The bed of a river.^[8][14]

Word family

• κοιταῖος (koitaîos)
• κοιτίς (koitís)
• κοιτών (koitṓn)
• ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoítēs)
• κοιτάζω (koitā́zō)

Related words

• κεῖμαι (keîmai)
• κοῖτος (koîtos)
• κοιμάω (koimáō)
• ἄκοιτις (ákoitis)

Usage notes

Ammonius keeps κοίτη and the verb κοιτάζομαι for people, φωλεός and φωλεύω for snakes and νοσσεύω for birds, and so faults the poet who wrote of a “nest of children”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b [Ammonius], De adfinium vocabulorum differentia, ed. K. Nickau (Leipzig: Teubner, 1966)
11. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
12. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge