κριτός

Forms

κρῐτός (kritós) m (feminine κρῐτή, neuter κρῐτόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the verbal adjective of κρίνω (krī́nō) “to separate, choose”.^[1][2][3] In Wiktionary's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kritós, built on the root *krey- (“to sift, separate”).^[1] The LIV gives the root as *kreh₁(i̯)- (“to sieve, separate”) and counts κριτός, with Latin certus (“decided, sure”), among the forms built on a new stem *kri-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first uses are in Homer: in the Iliad a picked body of Achaeans gathers round the funeral pyre, and in the Odyssey nine chosen umpires prepare the ground for the games of the Phaeacians.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

From “picked out” it came to mean “choice, excellent”: Pindar uses it of a distinguished family and Sophocles of the women Heracles chose as a prize for himself.^[8][6][9][7] It was always rare, a word of poetry, with about ten occurrences in the GLAUx corpus.^[10] An inscription from Cos uses it of a choice heifer for sacrifice.^[8]

Hesychius, Photius and the Lexica Segueriana gloss it as ἐπίλεκτος (epílektos) “picked”, and Hesychius also as “best”.^[11][12][13] The 13th-century lexicon of Zonaras gives it a different sense, “condemned, one who is judged”, taking it from the judicial sense of κρίνω.^[14]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of men picked out for a task.^[5][8]
• 5th century BC – Pindar uses it to mean “distinguished”, and Sophocles of chosen captive women.^[8][9][15]
• 4th to 3rd century BC – An inscription from Cos uses it of a choice heifer.^[8]
• 9th century AD – Photius glosses it as “picked”.^[12][15]
• 13th century AD – The lexicon of Zonaras explains it as “condemned”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Chosen, picked out for a purpose, of warriors and umpires.^[8][6][5]
2. Choice, excellent, distinguished, of a family, a people, captives or animals.^[8][6][9]

Word family

• ἄκριτος (ákritos)

Related words

• κρίνω (krī́nō)
• Latin certus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
12. ^ a b Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
13. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
14. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
15. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge