λεκάνη

Forms

λεκᾰ́νη (lekánē) f (genitive λεκᾰ́νης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek.^[2][3][4] It stands beside λέκος (lékos, “dish”) as στεφάνη (stephánē) stands beside στέφος (stéphos), with the suffix of other utensil names in -άνη (-ánē) and -ανον (-anon), such as πατάνη (patánē, “dish”).^[2][5] The variant λακάνη (lakánē) is for Beekes a sign of a substrate word, not a late assimilation, as Frisk and Chantraine took it.^[2][3][4][5] Chantraine leaves the origin unknown; the comparison with Latin lanx (“dish; scale”) fails, since Ernout and Meillet see the Latin word as a borrowing.^[5][6]

Byzantine etymologists explained it as an intensive λα- (la-) with χαίνω (khaínō, “to gape”), because it is wide.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristophanes' Clouds, meaning a dish or pan.^[8][9][4]

Semantic evolution

Classical and Hellenistic texts use it of a dish or pan, and an inscription from Epidaurus of the 4th century BC of a basin,^[8][4] Aristophanes also uses it for a hod for carrying mortar.^[8][4] It had many diminutives, such as λεκάνιον (lekánion) and λεκανίς (lekanís).^[5]

Medieval Greek used it for a basin, a church vessel, a bathtub, a cistern and a sarcophagus.^[10] It passed into Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, which gave Greek back the word Modern Greek λεγένι (legéni, “bowl, basin”).^[2][5] Modern Greek λεκάνη (lekáni) is a basin for household work and the bowl of a toilet.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of a dish and of a hod.^[8][9][12]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus uses it of a basin.^[8][4]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint and a papyrus have it.^[9][8]
• 9th century AD – A Coptic manuscript has the borrowed word, spelled ⲗⲁⲕⲁⲛⲏ.^[13]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek λεκάνη (lekáni), a basin and a toilet bowl.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dish, pot or pan.^[8][14]
2. A basin.^[8][14]
3. A hod.^[8]

Word family

• λεκάνιον (lekánion)
• λεκανίς (lekanís)

Related words

• λέκος (lékos)
• λακάνη (lakánē)

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press