πένομαι

Forms

πένομαι (pénomai) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a primary present, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to stretch, spin”);^[2][3][1] πόνος (pónos) “toil” and the iterative πονέω (ponéō) may be its derivatives.^[2] The only cognates that fit are words for “stretch, twist, weave”: Lithuanian pìnti (“to plait”), Old Church Slavonic пѧти (pęti, “to stretch”), Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (spinnan, “to spin”) and Old English spinnan.^[2][1] Greek would then have shifted from “stretch” to “strain” and “exert oneself”.^[2][1] Chantraine accepts the comparison but points out that the Homeric uses suggest none of these techniques.^[4]

The family split in two directions: with the o-grade it gave words for labour and pain, and with the e-grade words for want, πενία (peníā) and πένης (pénēs).^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to be busy, to toil: maidservants work in the hall, companions busy themselves around a hero, and servants prepare a meal.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

After Homer the sense moved from working to having to work for a living, and so to being poor: Solon is the first to use it so, followed by Euripides, Thucydides and Plato.^[5][6] With a genitive it meant to be short of something, in Aeschylus and Euripides.^[5][6] Homer and Hesiod also use it transitively, to work at a task or prepare a meal.^[5][6]

In Modern Greek πένομαι (pénomai) is a learned word for living in poverty.^[7][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of toiling and of preparing a meal.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of working at tasks.^[5][9]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon uses it of being poor.^[5][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of being short of something.^[5][6][9]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides and Euripides use it of poverty.^[5][9]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for being poor.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To toil, work, be busy.^[5][6]
2. (transitive) To work at a task; to prepare a meal.^[5][6]
3. To have to work for one's living; to be poor, needy.^[5][6]
4. To be short of something, have need of it.^[5][6]

Related words

• πόνος (pónos)
• πονέω (ponéō)
• πενία (peníā)
• πένης (pénēs)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b 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 d e f g h i j k l m 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 h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge