κομήτης

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ko.mɛ̌ː.tɛːs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /koˈmi.tis/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /koˈmi.tis/^[1]

Forms

κομήτης (komḗtēs) m^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from κομάω (komáō, “to have long hair”), from κόμη (kómē, “hair”), with the suffix -της (-tēs).^[1][2] The comet was named the “long-haired star” because its tail was imagined as a head of hair.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An oracle quoted by Herodotus calls the Persians long-haired.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Comic poets used it of vain, dissolute young men who wore their hair long, as in Aristophanes' Clouds.^[2][4] Plato uses it simply for having hair, as opposed to being bald.^[2][4] Figuratively, Sophocles calls an arrow κομήτης for its feathers, and Euripides a meadow for its grass and a thyrsus for its ivy.^[2][4]

With or without ἀστήρ “star”, Aristotle's Meteorology and Epicurus use it for the comet.^[2][4] Dioscorides gives it as a name of a spurge.^[2] Medieval and Modern Greek κομήτης (komítis) is the comet, and figuratively someone who appears rarely and suddenly.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – An oracle in Herodotus calls the Persians long-haired.^[2][4]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles calls a feathered arrow κομήτης.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of long-haired young men.^[2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the comet.^[2][4]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it for a plant.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Long-haired, or (of men) vain, dissolute.^[2][4]
2. Having hair, as opposed to bald.^[2][4]
3. (figurative) Feathered, of an arrow; grassy, of a meadow; wreathed, of a thyrsus.^[2][4]

Noun

1. A comet.^[2][4]
2. A kind of spurge.^[2]

Related words

• κόμη (kómē)
• κομάω (komáō)
• English comet

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr