Etymologically
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λαμβάνω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lam.bá.nɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /lamˈba.no/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /lamˈba.no/[1]

Forms

λᾰμβᾰ́νω (lambánō) [1] Homeric aorist ἔλλᾰβον (éllabon), with the doubled /l/ of an old initial *sl-.[2][3] Ionic perfect λελάβηκα and future λάψομαι, Attic perfect εἴληφα (eílēpha), Hellenistic future λήμψομαι.[2][4][3] Aeginetan aorist participle λhαβών (lhabṓn), with an aspirated /l/.[3][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hlagʷ-,[1] from Proto-Indo-European *sleh₂gʷ- (“to take, grasp”).[3][6] The Aeginetan participle λhαβών (lhabṓn), an Attic personal name with ⟨λh⟩ and the perfect εἴληφα (eílēpha) point to an initial *sl-, and the Homeric present λάζομαι (lázomai), which λαμβάνω replaced, points to a final labiovelar.[3][5][7] Beekes notes that the zero grade λαβ- (lab-) must itself be an innovation, since *sl̥h₂gʷ- would have given a long /aː/.[3]

The present is built like λανθάνω (lanthánō) and τυγχάνω (tunkhánō), with a nasal infix and the suffix -άνω (-ánō), beside the root aorist ἔλαβον (élabon).[1] The LIV connects Old English læċċan (“to seize”), the source of English latch, though Beekes points out that this needs two secondary changes.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The present λαμβάνω is not Homeric (Homer uses λάζομαι (lázomai)), but the aorist is: in the Iliad anger “took” the son of Atreus, and warriors take hold of weapons, reins and men.[3][7][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is physical: to take in the hand, grasp, seize, of people and of animals seizing prey, and to carry off as booty or capture a city.[2][4] Passions, sleep, sickness and death “take” a person from Homer on.[2][4] From seizing it moved to catching and detecting a wrongdoer, to taking an opportunity, and in Attic law to exacting a penalty.[4][2]

A second branch is passive in sense: to receive, get, be given, to receive a guest or a wife, to take food or a drug.[2] Mentally it meant to apprehend with the senses or the mind, to understand in a certain way and, in logic, to assume.[2] The middle λαμβάνομαι “lay hold of” takes the genitive, and also meant to attack or find fault with someone.[4][2] The verb formed many compounds, and derivatives such as λαβή (labḗ, “grip”), συλλαβή (sullabḗ, “syllable”) and λῆμμα (lêmma, “something received; premise”).[5][1]

In Hellenistic Greek the future took a nasal from the present, λήμψομαι, as in the New Testament.[2][4][8] Medieval vernacular Greek also had Modern Greek λαβαίνω (lavéno), made on the aorist stem λαβ-, which is still used beside learned Modern Greek λαμβάνω (lamváno) “to receive”.[9][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses the aorist of taking hold and of anger seizing a man.[2][4]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the Ionic perfect λελάβηκα and uses the verb of capturing.[2][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Lysias uses λαμβάνειν δίκην, to exact punishment.[2][11]
  • 2nd century BC – Papyri have the future λήμψομαι.[2]
  • Modern Greek – It is used as learned Modern Greek λαμβάνω (lamváno) and as Modern Greek λαβαίνω (lavéno).[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take, take hold of, grasp, seize.[2][4]
  2. To take by force, carry off as booty; to capture a person or city.[2][4]
  3. Of passions, sickness, sleep or death: to come over, seize someone.[2][4]
  4. To catch, overtake; to catch in the act, detect.[2][4]
  5. To take an opportunity; to exact a penalty or vengeance.[4][2]
  6. To take food or a drug.[2]
  7. To apprehend with the senses or the mind, understand, and (logic) to assume.[2]
  8. To receive, get, be given; to receive as a guest or in marriage.[2]
  9. (middle) To lay hold of, with the genitive; to attack, find fault with.[4][2]

Word family

  • ἄληπτος (álēptos)
  • ἀναλαμβάνω (analambánō)
  • ἀντιλαμβάνω (antilambánō)
  • δεξιολάβος (dexiolábos)
  • διαλαμβάνω (dialambánō)
  • ἐκλαμβάνω (eklambánō)
  • ἐπαναλαμβάνω (epanalambánō)
  • ἐπιλαμβάνω (epilambánō)
  • εὐλαβής (eulabḗs)
  • καταλαμβάνω (katalambánō)
  • λαβή (labḗ)
  • λῆμμα (lêmma)
  • ληπτέος (lēptéos)
  • ληπτικός (lēptikós)
  • λαβίς (labís)
  • λάζομαι (lázomai)
  • λάφυρα (láphūra)
  • Old English læċċan

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 t u v w 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 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ 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
  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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge