κρατήρ

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kraː.tɛ̌ːr/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /kraˈtir/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /kraˈtir/^[1]

Forms

κρᾱτήρ (krātḗr) m (genitive κρᾱτῆρος); third declension^[1] Ionic and epic κρητήρ (krētḗr).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is derived from the root of κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to mix”) with the suffix -τήρ (-tḗr), which formed names of tools and vessels as well as agents.^[1][4][2] Its κρᾱ- is the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“to mix”), the same as in ἄκρατος (ákratos) “unmixed”, which matches Sanskrit आशीर्त (ā́śīrta-, “mixed”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the large bowl in which wine was mixed with water before it was drawn off into cups; he describes bowls of silver and of gold.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Homer a bowl of wine was set up to celebrate a deliverance.^[2] Sophocles mentions the libation of the third bowl.^[2][3] Metaphorically Pindar calls a messenger “a mixing bowl of songs”, Aeschylus speaks of a criminal who fills a bowl of evils at home and drains it himself, and Aristophanes calls an informer a “bowl of troubles”.^[2][3]

The sense “bowl-shaped hollow” appears in Sophocles and Plato, and Aristotle and Polybius use it for the mouth of a volcano.^[2][3] It also named a constellation, the Cup.^[2][1] It was borrowed as Latin crātēr, and it survives as Modern Greek κρατήρας (kratíras).^[1][7]

Timeline

• Homer – the mixing bowl for wine.^[2][6]
• 6th century BC – an inscription from Sigeum mentions a κρητήρ and its stand.^[2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it figuratively for a messenger bearing an ode.^[2][3][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the crater of a volcano.^[2][8]
• 2nd century AD – Ptolemy names the constellation of the Cup.^[2]
• Modern Greek – κρατήρας.^[1][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A krater, a large mixing bowl in which wine was mixed with water.^[2][3]
2. A bowl of mixed wine, as offered or drunk.^[3][2]
3. (figurative) A bowl filled with evils, songs and the like.^[3][2]
4. A bowl-shaped hollow in rock, a basin.^[2][3]
5. The crater of a volcano.^[2]
6. (astronomy) The constellation Crater, the Cup.^[2][1]

Related words

• κεράννυμι (keránnumi)
• ἄκρατος (ákratos)
• Latin crātēr
• English crater

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Debrunner, Albert (1917), Griechische Wortbildungslehre, Heidelberg: Winter; Greek tr. on the Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge