πέκω

Forms

πέκω (pékō) ^[1] The Mycenaean word pe-ki-ti-ra₂ “female carders” (or “shearers”), from the same verb.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to pluck, card”), as a thematic present.^[3][4][1] It is cognate with Lithuanian pèšti (“to pluck, pull out”); the Greek variant πεκτέω (pektéō) goes with Latin pectō (“to comb”) and perhaps Old High German fehtan (“to fight”), if that first meant “to pluck each other”.^[3] Beekes finds attractive Pinault's view that these forms come from a reduplicated *pe-pḱ- and that the word for “comb”, κτείς (kteís), is related.^[3] The noun πέκος (pékos) “fleece” matches Latin pecus (“small cattle, sheep”) exactly.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad the middle is used of a woman combing her hair, and in the Odyssey the active of carding wool.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it of shearing sheep, and Theocritus has the middle of sheep having their wool shorn.^[5][6] Simonides and Aristophanes played on the sense when the wrestler Krios, “Ram”, was “shorn”, that is, beaten.^[5][6] The verb is rare: the GLAUx corpus counts only a handful of occurrences.^[7]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets of Pylos record women called pe-ki-ti-ra₂, “carders”.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad uses the middle of combing one's hair, the Odyssey the active of carding wool.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of shearing sheep.^[5][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Simonides uses it of the wrestler Krios being “shorn”.^[5][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of shearing.^[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To comb or card wool, and in the middle, to comb one's hair.^[5][6]
2. To shear sheep, and in the middle, of sheep, to be shorn of their wool.^[5][6]
3. (figurative) To be “shorn”, beaten, said of the wrestler Krios.^[6]

Word family

• ἀποπέκω (apopékō)

Related words

• ἄπεκτος (ápektos)
• κτείς (kteís)
• πεκτέω (pektéō)
• πέξις (péxis)
• πόκος (pókos)
• Latin pectō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge