πέλτη

Forms

πέλτη (péltē) f (genitive πέλτης); first declension^[1] Doric πέλτα in the Heraclean tables.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[3][4] Herodotus and other writers say that this light shield was carried by the Thracians, so the word itself may be borrowed, perhaps from Thracian.^[3][4][1] It is usually connected instead with πέλμα (pélma, “sole of the foot”) and Latin pellis (“skin”), as a derivative with a suffix -t-, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover”).^[3][1] The meaning fits, since the shield was covered with leather, but Beekes and Chantraine note that there are no good cognates with that suffix.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus and Euripides are the first to use it, for the small, light shield of the Thracians.^[2][3][5] Herodotus names the Thracians as its bearers.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The shield was light and had no rim, made mostly of wickerwork covered with leather.^[3][6] From it came πελταστής (peltastḗs), the light-armed soldier who carried it, and Euripides already uses πέλτη itself for a body of such troops and for an ornament of a horse.^[2][4] Xenophon uses it once for a shaft or pole, which Hesychius explains as a spear or javelin.^[2] Plutarch writes of the “Amazonian” pelta.^[2]

Latin borrowed the word as Latin pelta.^[7][4] Modern Greek keeps πέλτη as a term for the ancient shield.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it for the light shield of the Thracians, and Euripides also for a body of peltasts.^[2][9][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for a shaft or pole.^[2][9]
• 3rd century BC – A Zenon papyrus from Egypt mentions it.^[2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch writes of an Amazonian pelta.^[2][9]
• Modern Greek – The word is kept as the name of the ancient shield.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, light shield without a rim, of wickerwork covered with leather, originally Thracian.^[2][6][3]
2. A body of peltasts.^[2]
3. An ornament of a horse.^[2]
4. A shaft or pole; a spear.^[2][10]

Word family

• πελτάζω (peltázō)
• πελτάριον (peltárion)
• πελταστής (peltastḗs)
• πελτίον (peltíon)
• πελτοφόρος (peltophóros)

Related words

• πέλμα (pélma)
• Latin pelta

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ a b c d e 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 Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)