νομαδικός

Forms

νομᾰδικός (nomadikós) m (feminine νομᾰδική, neuter νομᾰδικόν); first/second declension; adverb νομαδικῶς.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek νομάς (nomás, “roaming for pasture; nomad”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[3][1][4] The noun comes from νομή (nomḗ, “pasture”) or νομός (nomós, “pasture”), derivatives of νέμω (némō, “to allot, to pasture”), which Beekes traces to Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to dispense, distribute; take”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristotle, in the 4th century BC, is the first to use it, of the herdsman's way of life in the Politics and of roaming insects in the Parts of Animals.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

Polybius uses it of nomadic equipment, and as a proper adjective, “Numidian”, of the Numidian cavalry, since the Greeks called the Numidians the “nomads”.^[1][3] Pseudo-Scymnus speaks of nomadic peoples, and Strabo uses the adverb, “like nomads”.^[1] Lucian has a “Numidian” cock, that is, a guinea-fowl.^[1]

Modern Greek uses νομαδικός (nomadikós) as a learned word, in the sense of the noun νομάδας (nomádas, “nomad”).^[6][7] English nomadic (1800) was formed in English from nomad.^[8]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the pastoral life and of roaming insects.^[1][9]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of nomadic equipment and of Numidian horsemen, and Pseudo-Scymnus of nomadic peoples.^[1][9]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo uses the adverb, “like nomads”.^[1]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian speaks of a Numidian cock.^[1]
• Modern Greek – νομαδικός (nomadikós) means “nomadic”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for a herdsman's life, pastoral, nomadic.^[1][9]
2. Of flying insects: roving, wandering.^[1]
3. (as a proper adjective) Numidian.^[1][3]

Related words

• νομάς (nomás)
• νομή (nomḗ)
• νομός (nomós)
• νέμω (némō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press