πέμπω

Forms

πέμπω (pémpō) ^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] The verb and its derivatives form a clear system with an alternation of /e/ and /o/, as in πέπομφα (pépompha) and πομπή (pompḗ),^[3] but Beekes finds no Indo-European etymology for it, and no features of a loanword or of Pre-Greek vocabulary either.^[2] Chantraine thinks the system may have been built within Greek, though he cannot say how, and mentions a proposal by Hester (1965) that it is “Pelasgian”.^[3] Babiniotis likewise reports both views, a Greek innovation and a Pelasgian origin.^[4] Proposed links with κομψός (kompsós, “nice, smart”) or Lithuanian švánkus (“decent”) are unconvincing.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: the Iliad and the Odyssey use it for sending a person on a journey or a mission, for sending a guest home, and for escorting someone on the way.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it for hurling rocks, and Aeschylus and Sophocles for sending forth words, that is, uttering them.^[5] Thucydides uses it without an object, for sending envoys or word to someone.^[5] The nouns πομπή (pompḗ) and πομπός (pompós) kept the old sense of escort and guidance, and πομπή came to mean a solemn procession.^[2] In the papyri of the 2nd century AD it is used for nominating a person to a post.^[5] In the New Testament it is used for sending someone, human or divine, on a mission.^[8]

Medieval vernacular Greek has the forms Byzantine Greek πέβγω (pévgo) and πέβω (pévo) and the aorist έπεψα (épepsa), which some dialects still use.^[9] In standard Modern Greek πέμπω (pémbo) is only a learned word, and the ordinary verb for “to send” is στέλνω (stélno).^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for sending people on journeys, sending guests home and escorting them.^[5][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for hurling rocks.^[5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for uttering words.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it without an object, for sending envoys.^[5]
• 2nd century AD – Papyri use it for nominating a person to a post.^[5]
• 12th–17th century – Vernacular texts have the forms Byzantine Greek πέβγω (pévgo) and πέβω (pévo).^[9]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for “to send”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To send, dispatch a person or thing somewhere; with an infinitive, to send someone to do something.^[5][6]
2. To send away, dismiss, send home.^[5]
3. To escort, conduct, accompany.^[5][2]
4. Of missiles, to discharge, shoot; of words, to utter.^[5]
5. (middle) To send for someone, fetch.^[2]
6. (papyri) To nominate a person for a post.^[5]

Word family

• ἀναπέμπω (anapémpō)
• ἀποπέμπω (apopémpō)
• διαπέμπω (diapémpō)
• εἰσπέμπω (eispémpō)
• ἐκπέμπω (ekpémpō)
• ἐπιπέμπω (epipémpō)
• περιπέμπω (peripémpō)
• πομπεύς (pompeús)
• προπέμπω (propémpō)
• προσπέμπω (prospémpō)
• συμπέμπω (sumpémpō)

Related words

• πεμπτήρ (pemptḗr)
• πέμψις (pémpsis)
• πομπή (pompḗ)
• πομπός (pompós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 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
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki