Etymologically
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κτείς

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ktěːs/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈktis/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈktis/[1]

Forms

κτείς (kteís) m (genitive κτενός); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pḱtén-s (“comb”), from *peḱ- (“to pluck”).[1][2] Latin pecten (“comb”) shows the full form; in Greek the zero-grade root lost its initial /p/, a simplification of the cluster that has a parallel in the Iranian words.[2][3] Some Modern Iranian forms, such as Persian شانه (šāne, “comb”), point to a form without the /t/, so the root may originally have lacked the /t/; it is the root of πέκω (pékō, “to comb, card”) and πεκτέω (pektéō).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus' Agamemnon uses the plural for the fingers; the sense “comb” is found in Pherecrates and in Pindar.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the comb for the hair, many toothed objects were called κτείς: the comb of the loom, the comb for carding wool, a rake, the horn of the lyre and the incisor teeth.[4] In poetry it was also used of the fingers and the ribs.[4] The Hippocratic writers used it for the pubic region, and later writers for the female genitals.[4][7] Comic poets and Aristotle used it for the scallop.[4]

The Hellenistic diminutive κτένιον (kténion) became medieval and Modern Greek χτένι (chténi), with /kt/ changed to /xt/; the modern word means a comb and also a kind of shellfish.[8]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus' Agamemnon uses it for the fingers.[4][5][9]
  • 5th century BC – Pherecrates uses it for a comb, and the Hippocratic writers for the pubic region.[4][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Comic poets use it for the scallop.[4][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the scallop in his zoology.[4][9]
  • Modern Greek – Its diminutive Modern Greek χτένι (chténi) means a comb and a kind of shellfish.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A comb for the hair.[4][5]
  2. A toothed implement: the comb of a loom, a wool-carding comb, a rake.[4]
  3. (in the plural, poetic) The fingers.[4][5]
  4. (poetic) The ribs.[4]
  5. (medicine) The pubic region; the female genitals.[4][7]
  6. (in the plural) The incisors.[4]
  7. The scallop.[4]

Word family

  • κτενίζω (ktenízō)
  • πέκω (pékō)
  • πεκτέω (pektéō)
  • πόκος (pókos)
  • Latin pecten

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge