Etymologically
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κομήτης

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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]
  • 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