λεόπαρδος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /le.ó.par.dos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /leˈo.par.ðos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /leˈo.par.ðos/^[1]

Forms

λεόπαρδος (leópardos) m (genitive λεοπάρδου); second declension^[1] Also λεοπάρδαλις (leopárdalis).^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][3] Frisk and Wiktionary explain it as a blend compound of λέων (léōn, “lion”) and πάρδος (párdos, “leopard”).^[3][1] Beekes doubts this, because πάρδος is found only once, in Aelian, and a first member ⟨λεο-⟩ for ⟨λεοντο-⟩ is rare, though there is λεοδράκων (leodrákōn), a mythical creature in Crete.^[2][3] The usual Greek word for the leopard since Homer was πάρδαλις (párdalis).^[2] Both Beekes and Frisk think the Greek word was at least shaped by Latin leopardus, and Beekes, following Chantraine, that it may even be borrowed from it.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ignatius of Antioch, taken to Rome to face the beasts, writes that he is “bound to ten leopards”, meaning the soldiers who guard him.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Galen and the Edict of Diocletian use it for the animal.^[5][2] Wiktionary notes that, at least after Pliny, it may have meant a supposed cross between lion and leopard.^[1] In medieval vernacular Greek, the Digenis Akritas tells of the hero killing bears and leopards.^[6]

It passed to Latin leopardus and to the Slavic languages.^[1] Modern Greek λεόπαρδος (leópardos) is a learned word.^[1]

Timeline

• 1st–2nd century AD – Ignatius of Antioch calls his guards “leopards”.^[4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for the leopard.^[5][4]
• AD 301 – The Edict of Diocletian lists leopard skins.^[5][2]
• 12th–17th century – The Digenis Akritas has the hero kill leopards.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The leopard.^[5][4]
2. (figurative) A rough soldier.^[4]

Related words

• λέων (léōn)
• πάρδαλις (párdalis)
• πάρδος (párdos)
• Latin leopardus
• English leopard

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 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 d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr