κώπη

Forms

κώπη (kṓpē) f (genitive κώπης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kṓpā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kóh₂p-eh₂, an old verbal noun from the root Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to seize, grab”).^[1][2] Frisk took its long vowel for a lengthened grade, but Beekes, after Hamp, explains it as the ordinary /o/ grade before the laryngeal.^[3][2] The same root is in κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), although the meanings look far apart.^[2][4][3] For the sense “grip, handle” Beekes, Chantraine and Frisk compare Latin capulus (“handle, hilt”).^[2][4][3]

Ancient grammarians derived it from κόπτω (kóptō, “to cut”), because the hilt does not cut the hand, or from a verb meaning “to take”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a handle: the hilt of a sword in the Iliad, the handle of a key and of an oar in the Odyssey, where it already stands for the oar itself.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The “handle of an oar” became the usual word for the oar in poetry and prose, from the Odyssey and Sappho to Herodotus and Thucydides.^[8][9] Euripides uses the oars for the ship and even for a whole fleet.^[9] Metaphors grew from rowing: Pindar's “check the oar” means “stay your hand”, and Aeschylus calls a man of low rank one who sits at the lower oar.^[8] The sense “hilt” stayed alive in tragedy, and Euripides also uses it of the shaft of a firebrand.^[9][10]

The Septuagint uses it once, of oars.^[11] The diminutive κωπίον (kōpíon), first found in Aristophanes, became medieval κουπίον (koupíon) and Modern Greek κουπί (kupí), the everyday word for an oar.^[12][10] The ancient word itself survives in Cypriot and as a formal word for the oar.^[13][10][14]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the hilt of a sword, and the Odyssey for the handle of a key and for the oar.^[6][8]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho uses it for the oar.^[8][15]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses “check the oar” for “stay your hand”, and Aeschylus calls a man of low rank one who sits at the lower oar.^[8][15]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for the oar, and Euripides for a ship or a fleet.^[9][15]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes has the diminutive κωπίον (kōpíon) and the proverb “to escort with eleven oars”.^[8][10][15]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus speaks of the men who shave oars.^[8][15]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek κουπί (kupí), from the diminutive, is the everyday word for an oar.^[12][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The handle of an oar; hence an oar; by extension a ship or a fleet.^[8][9]
2. The handle of a key.^[6][9]
3. The hilt of a sword.^[6][9]
4. The shaft of a firebrand.^[9]
5. Any handle.^[8][4]

Word family

• κωπήεις (kōpḗeis)
• κωπίον (kōpíon)
• κωπήρης (kōpḗrēs)
• κωπηλάτης (kōpēlátēs)
• κωπηλατέω (kōpēlatéō)
• κωπεύς (kōpeús)

Related words

• κάπτω (káptō)
• Latin capulus
• Modern Greek κουπί (kupí)

Usage notes

Aristophanes' “to escort with eleven oars” was a proverb of uncertain origin, meaning to escort someone with every honour.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
15. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge