Etymologically
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πέντε

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pén.te/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈpen.te/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈpen.te/[1]

Forms

πέντε (pénte) (ordinal πέμπτος, adverbial πεντᾰ́κῐς)[1] Aeolic πέμπε (pémpe), Pamphylian πέ(ν)δε.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pénkʷe, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”).[1][2] Aeolic πέμπε shows a different outcome of the labiovelar /kʷ/.[2][5] Pamphylian πέ(ν)δε voiced the /t/ after the nasal, which was being lost.[3] The ordinal πέμπτος (pémptos) “fifth” goes back to *penkʷ-to-, with the /p/ that the labiovelar regularly gave before /t/.[2][3]

Cognate with Sanskrit पञ्च (páñca), Latin quīnque, Lithuanian penki, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆 (fimf) and Old Armenian հինգ (hing), all “five”.[2][3][1] The long vowel of πεντήκοντα (pentḗkonta) “fifty” has parallels in Sanskrit and Armenian.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Homer for the number five.[6][4][2]

Semantic evolution

As a first member of compounds the form is mostly πεντα-, after ἑπτα- and δεκα-, as in πένταθλον (péntathlon) “pentathlon”.[2] Simonides says “having won the five” for winning it.[2][4] Homer has the verb πεμπάζω “to count on the five fingers”, and Hesychius records πεντάχα “the hand”.[2][3] In Sparta a πεντηκοστύς was a body of fifty soldiers.[2]

The magical papyri speak of the “five planets” begotten by Helios.[7] The word continued unchanged through medieval Greek into Modern Greek πέντε (pénde), which has many idioms with it.[8][9][5]

Timeline

  • Homer – πέντε “five”; πεμπάζω “to count on the fingers”.[6][2]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Simonides: τὰ πέντε κρατήσας, “having won the pentathlon”.[4][10]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides describes the Spartan πεντηκοστύς.[2][10]
  • Modern Greek – πέντε.[9][1]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. five.[4][11]
  2. τὰ πέντε, the pentathlon.[4]

Word family

  • πέμπτος (pémptos)
  • πεντάκις (pentákis)
  • πεμπάζω (pempázō)
  • πεντήκοντα (pentḗkonta)
  • πένταθλον (péntāthlon)
  • πεντάγωνος (pentágōnos)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 d e f Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ Muñoz Delgado, Luis (2001), Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos, Madrid: CSIC
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  11. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press