πέρδομαι

Forms

πέρδομαι (pérdomai) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pérdomai,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pérdetor, a thematic present of the root *perd- (“to fart”).^[2][1][3] The verb is vulgar, but its forms keep an archaic Indo-European structure: the middle present, the aorist ἀπέπαρδον (apépardon) with the zero grade, and the perfect πέπορδα (péporda) with the o-grade, as in δέρκομαι (dérkomai).^[4]

Cognate with Sanskrit पर्दते (párdate), Old High German ferzan, Lithuanian pérsti and Albanian pjerdh, and with the English word fart.^[2][1][4] Latin lacks the word; a root with another sound, Proto-Indo-European *pesd-, gives Latin pēdō and Greek βδέω (bdéō).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristophanes' Acharnians, where a speaker says of himself that he farts.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word stays in comedy and low registers: Aristophanes uses it in the Knights, the Clouds and the Wasps, and the perfect πέπορδα with present sense in the Peace.^[7][6] Compounds sharpen it: ἀποπέρδομαι (apopérdomai), καταπέρδομαι (katapérdomai, “to fart at”), with the genitive, and a prefixed form for a small one.^[4] The noun πορδή (pordḗ, “fart”), found in Aristophanes, gave the nickname Πόρδων for the Cynics in Epictetus.^[4] The bird πέρδιξ (pérdix, “partridge”) may take its name from the verb, after the whirring sound of a partridge taking off, as Frisk explains.^[2]

Modern Greek πέρδομαι (pérdomai) is a learned form of the ancient verb.^[8][5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it in the Acharnians and other comedies.^[6][7][9]
• Modern Greek – Πέρδομαι survives as a learned form.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fart, break wind.^[6][10]

Word family

• πορδή (pordḗ)
• ἀποπέρδομαι (apopérdomai)
• καταπέρδομαι (katapérdomai)

Related words

• πέρδιξ (pérdix)
• βδέω (bdéō)
• English fart

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press