πάνθηρ

Forms

πᾰ́νθηρ (pánthēr) m (genitive πᾰ́νθηρος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes, Frisk and Chantraine consider it a foreign word of Eastern origin.^[2][3][4] Benfey compared Sanskrit पुण्डरीक (puṇḍarīka-, “tiger”), a word known only from the Indian lexicographers, but Mayrhofer doubted the comparison.^[4][3][1] If the word is connected with πάρδαλις (párdalis, “leopard”), an original *πάρθηρ (*párthēr) may have been changed to πάνθηρ by folk etymology, as if from πᾶν (pân, “all”) and θηράω (thēráō, “to hunt”).^[2][4][3] Wiktionary also compares Persian پلنگ (palang, “leopard”) and Hittite parsnaš (“leopard”).^[1]

The ancient folk etymology, “all-beast”, from “all” and θήρ (thḗr, “wild beast”), led to many fables.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus first names the πάνθηρες, and Xenophon mentions them in his treatise on hunting.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Greek the word was applied to various spotted cats, the panther or leopard, and Chantraine translates it “cheetah”.^[6][7][4] It was always rare, and is found mostly in natural history and in descriptions of distant lands, from Aristotle to Aelian and Oppian.^[6][8]

Latin borrowed it as panthera, from which, through Old French, came English panther.^[9][3][5] Medieval vernacular Greek kept it, and Modern Greek has the learned πάνθηρας (pánthiras).^[10][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus first names the animal.^[6][7][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon mentions it in his treatise on hunting.^[6][7][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the animal in his zoological works.^[6][12]
• Mid-13th century – English panther is first recorded, from Old French and Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – πάνθηρας is a learned revival of the ancient word.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A panther or leopard, a name for various spotted big cats.^[6][7]

Word family

• πανθηρίσκος (panthērískos)

Related words

• πάρδαλις (párdalis)
• Latin panthera
• English panther

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge