Etymologically
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πέμπω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pém.pɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpem.po/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpem.po/[1]

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)
  • 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