Etymologically
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κτάομαι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ktá.o.mai̯/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈkta.o.mɛ/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈkta.o.me/[1]

Forms

κτᾰ́ομαι (ktáomai) [1] Future κτήσομαι (ktḗsomai), aorist ἐκτησάμην (ektēsámēn), perfect κέκτημαι (kéktēmai) and ἔκτημαι (éktēmai), future perfect κεκτήσομαι (kektḗsomai), passive aorist ἐκτήθην (ektḗthēn).[2][3] Ionic κτέομαι (ktéomai) only as a variant reading in Herodotus.[3]

Etymology

In Beekes's view it is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tkeh₁- (“to rule, gain, acquire”), comparing the Indo-Iranian present Avestan xšaiieiti (“rules, has power”) and its Sanskrit counterpart, which fits well in meaning.[4] All the Greek forms have ⟨κτη-⟩ except the present itself, which is rather rare and late, and their ⟨η⟩ confirms a root ending in *h₁.[4] Since the two presents do not match well in formation, LIV gives up this etymology and derives the verb from a noun *tk-eh₂- (“possessions”).[4] Wiktionary likewise starts from *tk-éh₁- (“acquisition”), of *tek- (“to take by the hand; to receive, obtain”).[1] Pokorny set up a root *kþē(i)- (“to acquire, possess”).[5]

Beekes also assumes an old heteroclitic noun, Proto-Greek *ktē-war, behind κτέαρ (ktéar) and κτέανα (ktéana, “possessions”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to acquire or win, and in the perfect to possess: the Iliad speaks of the possessions that Peleus acquired, and the Odyssey of slaves acquired by Odysseus.[6][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the tragedians and Thucydides on it is used of gaining things that are not material, such as power, skill or goodwill, and of gaining persons: a wife, friends, allies, children by a woman.[2][3] Sophocles uses it of bringing death or a goddess's anger on oneself.[3] Demosthenes says that “it often seems harder to keep good things than to acquire them” (τὸ φυλάξαι τἀγαθὰ τοῦ κτήσασθαι χαλεπώτερον).[3] In comedy and Plato the participle means an owner or master of slaves.[2]

In the New Testament it means to procure or get, of gold for one's belt or the gift of God bought with money, and “all I get” is a man's income.[7] Coptic borrowed it; its earliest dated manuscript is of 625.[8] Medieval Greek kept κτώμαι (któmai), with the Pontic form χτήσκουμαι.[9] Modern Greek uses the compound αποκτώ (apoktó, “to acquire”), an active form of the ancient ἀποκτάομαι (apoktáomai).[10][11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for acquiring possessions and slaves.[6][3]
  • 7th century BC – Archilochus has the future κτήσομαι (ktḗsomai).[3][12]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for bringing death or anger on oneself, and Thucydides for winning goodwill and allies.[3][2][12]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes contrasts acquiring good things with keeping them.[3][12]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for procuring and for one's income.[7]
  • 7th century AD – A Coptic manuscript of 625 has it as a loanword.[8]
  • Modern Greek – The compound αποκτώ (apoktó) means to acquire.[10][11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To acquire, get or gain material things: land, money, slaves, and in the perfect to possess.[2][3] The perfect participle as a noun: an owner or master.[2][3]
  2. To acquire things that are not material: power, skill, goodwill, gratitude.[2][3]
  3. To gain persons: a wife, friends, allies; to have children by a woman.[2][3]
  4. To bring on oneself, incur: death, anger, hatred.[3]
  5. To procure for another.[3]

Word family

  • ἀνακτάομαι (anaktáomai)
  • ἐγκτάομαι (enktáomai)
  • ἐπικτάομαι (epiktáomai)
  • κατακτάομαι (kataktáomai)
  • κτῆμα (ktêma)
  • κτηματικός (ktēmatikós)
  • κτήσιος (ktḗsios)
  • κτῆσις (ktêsis)
  • κτητέος (ktētéos)
  • κτητικός (ktētikós)
  • κτητός (ktētós)
  • κτήτωρ (ktḗtōr)
  • προσκτάομαι (prosktáomai)

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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
  9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge