Etymologically
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νήθω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /nɛ̌ː.tʰɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈni.θo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈni.θo/[1]

Forms

νήθω (nḗthō) [1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek νέω (néō, “to spin”) with a dental enlargement, as κνήθω (knḗthō) stands beside κνάω (knáō) and πλήθω (plḗthō) beside πίμπλημι (pímplēmi); perhaps κλώθω (klṓthō, “to spin”) is similar.[2][3][1]

The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sneh₁- (“to spin”), whose initial /sn/ shows in Aeolic ἔννη (énnē) and Homeric ἐύννητος (eúnnētos, “well-spun”).[2] Cognate with Old Irish sníid (“spins”), Latin neō (“to spin”), Old High German nāen (“to sew”) and Lithuanian nýtis (“warp thread”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the 5th century BC, in the comic poet Cratinus and in Plato's Statesman, meaning to spin.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It became the usual present of the old verb νέω (néō) “to spin”, though Pollux says it is not Attic.[5][3] The Septuagint uses it ten times, all in Exodus.[6] In the New Testament the lilies of the field neither toil nor spin.[7][8] It also appears in Callimachus, Galen and the epigrams of the Greek Anthology.[3][8]

It survives in Modern Greek γνέθω (gnétho) “to spin”, a blend of the ancient verbs νέω and νήθω.[9][1]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Cratinus uses it of spinning.[3][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato's Statesman uses it.[3][4][10]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of spinning.[8][10]
  • 3rd century BC – The Septuagint uses it in Exodus.[6][4]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospels of Matthew and Luke say that lilies do not spin.[7][4]
  • 2nd century AD – Galen uses it.[3][10]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as γνέθω (gnétho).[9][1]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To spin thread or wool.[3][8][7]
  • νέω (néō)
  • νῆμα (nêma)
  • κλώθω (klṓthō)
  • Latin neō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  5. ^ 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. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  7. ^ a b c 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
  8. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge