μετέωρος

Forms

μετέωρος (metéōros) m or f (neuter μετέωρον); second declension^[1] Epic μετήορος (metḗoros), Aeolic and Doric πεδάορος (pedáoros) (Alcaeus, Aeschylus).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μετα- (meta-) + ἀείρω (aeírō, “to lift”), derived from the compound verb μεταίρω (metaírō, “to lift up”) (Aeolic πεδαίρω (pedaírō)),^[2] the second part being an o-grade noun from that verb.^[1][4] συνάορος (sunáoros, “coupled together”), from συναείρω (sunaeírō), is formed the same way.^[2][5] The epic form μετήορος (metḗoros) has /ē/ by lengthening in composition, and the Attic form comes from it by quantitative metathesis.^[5][4] Beekes thinks it unlikely that the word was made from the phrase μετ' ἀέρος (met' aéros, “in the air”).^[2] Etymonline traces ἀείρω (aeírō) to Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to raise, lift”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has the epic form μετήορος (metḗoros): in the Iliad Zeus says that everything would hang in mid-air (8.26), and chariots leap high into the air (23.369).^[3] The Attic form appears in the 5th century BC, in Herodotus and Thucydides.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant “lifted off the ground”, as of rooms above ground as opposed to those below it (Herodotus), and “in mid-air”.^[3][8] The neuter plural τὰ μετέωρα became the name for things in the sky, astronomical and weather phenomena, in the Hippocratic writings, Aristophanes and Plato, and the compound μετεωρολόγος (meteōrológos), named one who speaks about such things.^[3][2] Thucydides used it of ships riding on the open sea, and the Hippocratic writers of pains and breathing that are superficial or shallow.^[3]

Figuratively it described a mind “up in the air”: all Greece was in suspense before the war (Thucydides 2.8), and Polybius uses it for men buoyed up by hopes.^[3][8] Then it came to mean haughty, as in the Septuagint, and of affairs uncertain or precarious; in papyri and inscriptions contracts and suits are “pending”.^[3] Cicero's letters and Galen use it of an absent-minded person.^[3]

Latin borrowed the noun as Latin meteōrum.^[1] From the Greek τὰ μετέωρα, through Medieval Latin and Old French, English meteor (late 15th century) first meant any atmospheric phenomenon; the sense “shooting star” dates from the 1590s.^[6] In medieval vernacular Greek the adjective lived on, with the neuter used as a noun, a use still found in dialects.^[9] Modern Greek μετέωρος (metéoros), a learned word, means “hovering” and, of a person, “undecided”; the neuter μετέωρο (metéoro) is a meteor.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the epic form for things hanging or leaping in the air.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of rooms above ground and of things raised from the ground.^[3][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of ships on the high sea and of Greece in suspense before the war.^[3][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use τὰ μετέωρα for the things in the heavens.^[3][8][11]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Samos speaks of contracts still pending.^[3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of men excited by hopes and of haughty men.^[3][11]
• 1590s – English meteor, from the Greek through Latin and French, takes the sense “shooting star”.^[6]
• Modern Greek – The learned adjective means “hovering” or “undecided”, and the neuter noun a meteor.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Raised off the ground, lifted, hanging; of rooms, above ground.^[3][8]
2. High in the air, in mid-air, aloft.^[3][8]
3. Of ground: high, elevated; τὸ μετέωρον, high ground.^[8][3]
4. (in the neuter plural) τὰ μετέωρα, things in the sky: celestial and atmospheric phenomena.^[3][8]
5. Of ships and sailors: out on the open sea.^[3][8]
6. On the surface, and (medicine) superficial, shallow (pains, breathing).^[3]
7. Of a horse: high-stepping.^[3][8]
8. (figurative) In suspense, buoyed up or excited with hope or anxiety; eager.^[3][8]
9. Haughty, puffed up.^[3]
10. Of affairs: uncertain, precarious; of contracts and suits, pending.^[3][8]
11. Of persons: absent-minded; fickle.^[3]

Word family

• μετεωρίζω (meteōrízō)
• μετεωρολόγος (meteōrológos)
• μετεωρισμός (meteōrismós)

Related words

• ἀείρω (aeírō)
• μετάρσιος (metársios)
• Latin meteōrum
• English meteor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University 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 c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge