κράζω

Forms

κρᾱ́ζω (krā́zō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a sound word (onomatopoeia).^[2][3] Beekes and Frisk explain the original system as a thematic aorist κραγεῖν (krageîn) beside an intensive perfect κέκραγα (kékraga) with present meaning, which was the centre of the system, as the derived forms κεκράξομαι (kekráxomai) and κεκράκτης (kekráktēs, “bawler”) show.^[2][3] The present κράζω and the aorist κρᾶξαι (krâxai) are later formations.^[2][4] As an imitative word it resembles κρώζω (krṓzō, “to croak”), of which κραγεῖν (krageîn) might even be the regular zero-grade aorist, in Frisk's view.^[2][3] Wiktionary also compares κραυγή (kraugḗ, “cry”).^[1]

Babiniotis traces it to an imitative Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *ker-, with an extended stem *kre-g-, and compares Latin crōciō (“to croak”) and corvus (“raven”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The perfect is the form found first: Aeschylus has κέκραγας, “you cry out”, in the Prometheus Bound.^[7][8] The present κράζω itself is rare in the classical period, and Beekes notes individual examples from Aristophanes on.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy and comedy the word is used of loud human crying and bawling, and Aristophanes uses it for the croaking of his frogs and for the yelping of a man pictured as a dog.^[7][9] Sophocles uses it for the croaking of the raven.^[7] Aristotle cites it as a plain prose word for “cry out” beside the Homeric βοάω (boáō).^[9] With an object it means to clamour for something, as in Aristophanes' “to shout for one's shoes”.^[7][9]

The Septuagint and the New Testament use it often, with the new aorist ἐκέκραξα (ekékraxa), for crying out aloud, the cries of the possessed and of people praying, and, in the Gospel of Luke, of stones that would cry out.^[7][10][9] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word with the same sense.^[11] In Modern Greek κράζω (krázo) is a popular and literary word for the cawing of crows and for calling someone loudly or summoning them.^[12]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the perfect κέκραγας, “you cry out”.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of the raven's croak.^[7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of bawling speakers and of croaking frogs.^[7][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the present tense in his zoological works.^[7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for loud cries and the cries of the possessed.^[10]
• Modern Greek – κράζω (krázo) is used for crows cawing and for calling someone loudly.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To croak, of the raven and of frogs.^[7][9]
2. To scream, shout or bawl; of a speaker, to clamour noisily.^[7][9]
3. With an accusative, to shout for something, to clamour for it.^[7][9]
4. To call out to someone to do something.^[9]
5. (New Testament) To cry out aloud, of shouts without words, of urgent prayer, and of proclamation.^[10]

Word family

• ἀνακράζω (anakrázō)
• ἀντικράζω (antikrázō)
• ἀποκράζω (apokrázō)
• διακράζω (diakrázō)
• ἐγκράζω (enkrázō)
• ἐκκράζω (ekkrázō)
• ἐπικράζω (epikrázō)
• κατακράζω (katakrázō)
• περικράζω (perikrázō)
• ὑπερκράζω (huperkrázō)

Related words

• ἀκραγής (akragḗs)
• κραγέτης (kragétēs)
• κραγός (kragós)
• κρακτικός (kraktikós)

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. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki