Etymologically
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λεόπαρδος

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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]

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