λαμπτήρ

Forms

λᾰμπτήρ (lamptḗr) m (genitive λᾰμπτῆρος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine”) + -τήρ (-tḗr), with the suffix of agent nouns: “the thing that gives light”.^[1][2][3]

The verb λάμπω (lámpō) is a nasal present, and Beekes compares, without the nasal, Hittite lāpp- (“to glow, flash”) and Lithuanian lópė (“torch”).^[4] The LIV reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to light up”), but Beekes doubts that this material proves an Indo-European origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Odyssey, for the braziers set up in Odysseus' hall and fed with wood to give light and heat.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is any fire that gives light: in Aeschylus' Agamemnon the watchman greets the beacon-fire as λαμπτὴρ νυκτός, “lamp of the night”, Sophocles uses it for evening watch-fires, and the Rhesus for the rays of the sun.^[2][3] From Empedocles and Euripides on it is also a lantern, and Xenophon and the Hippocratic writers use it so.^[2][3] Pausanias records it as a title of Dionysus.^[2]

It passed into Latin lanterna, which Etymonline explains as altered under the influence of lucerna (“lamp”); from it come Old French lanterne and English lantern (mid-13th century).^[6][1][7] Modern Greek λαμπτήρας (lamptíras) is a learned word for a lamp, electric or fluorescent.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for braziers that light a hall.^[5][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus' watchman in the Agamemnon greets the beacon-fire with it.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for evening watch-fires, and Empedocles and Euripides for a lantern.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for a lantern.^[2][3]
• 2nd century AD – Pausanias records it as a title of Dionysus.^[2]
• Mid-13th century – English lantern is first recorded, through Old French and Latin.^[7]
• Modern Greek – λαμπτήρας (lamptíras) is a learned word for a lamp.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brazier or stand in which wood was burnt to light a room.^[2][5][3]
2. A beacon or watch-fire; in the plural, the fiery rays of the sun.^[2][3]
3. A lantern.^[2][3]
4. An epithet of Dionysus (Diónusos).^[2]

Related words

• λάμπω (lámpō)
• λαμπάς (lampás)
• Latin lanterna
• English lantern

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki