ναυτικός

Forms

ναυτῐκός (nautikós) m (feminine ναυτῐκή, neuter ναυτῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2]

Latin nauticus was borrowed from it;^[3] through Latin nauticus and French nautique it gave English nautical (1550s).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aeschylus: the Persians speaks of the seafaring host of the Greeks, and the Agamemnon of the wreckage of ships.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the 5th century BC it was the usual adjective for everything naval.^[5][7] Herodotus opposes the naval force to the land army and uses the feminine noun (with τέχνη “art” understood) for seamanship;^[5] the neuter τὸ ναυτικόν became the regular word for a fleet or navy in Herodotus, Aristophanes and Thucydides, who also says of a people that they “became nautical”, that is, a naval power.^[5] Euripides speaks of the lawlessness of sailors,^[5][7] and Aristotle uses it of the class of Athenians who served in the fleet.^[7]

In Attic law the neuter, mostly plural, meant money lent on a ship or its cargo (bottomry), a maritime loan, as in Lysias and Demosthenes.^[5][7] Papyri of the Roman period use the masculine as a noun for a sailor.^[5]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it for what belongs to ships and navigation.^[8] Modern Greek ναυτικός (naftikós) is taken from the ancient word,^[9] and Triantafyllidis notes that the ancient neuter “maritime loan” differs from the modern noun.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of seafaring people and of ships' wreckage.^[5][6][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the naval force and, as a noun, of the fleet and of seamanship.^[5][10]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of peoples who became naval powers.^[5][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Lysias uses the neuter plural for maritime loans.^[5][7][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the class of citizens serving in the navy.^[7][10]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – A papyrus uses the masculine as a noun meaning “sailor”.^[5]
• 1550s – English nautical is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of ships or sailors; seafaring, maritime.^[5][7]
2. Made up of ships or seamen; naval.^[5][7]
3. Skilled in seamanship; of a people, being a naval power.^[5]
4. Used by sailors; of instruments, navigational.^[7]
5. Typical of sailors.^[7][5]

Noun

1. τὸ ναυτικόν: a fleet, a navy; also a ship's crew.^[5][7]
2. ἡ ναυτική: seamanship, navigation.^[5]
3. τὰ ναυτικά: naval affairs, sea power.^[5]
4. τὸ ναυτικόν, mostly plural: money lent on bottomry, a maritime loan.^[5][7]
5. ὁ ναυτικός (Koine): a sailor.^[5]

Related words

• ναύτης (naútēs)
• Latin nauticus
• English nautical

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge