Etymologically
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πέτομαι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pé.to.mai̯/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpe.to.mɛ/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpe.to.me/[1]

Forms

πέτομαι (pétomai) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂eti (“to fly”), from the root *peth₂- according to the LIV and Wiktionary.[1][2] The root aorist πτάσθαι (ptásthai), with πτῆναι (ptênai), seems to need a root with a laryngeal, while most cognates can be explained from *pet-;[3] Hackstein argued, Beekes reports, that Greek too had the root without a laryngeal.[3] The present πέταμαι (pétamai) is secondary, made after the aorist, and the late ἵπταμαι (híptamai) was modelled on ἵσταμαι (hístamai).[3][4]

Cognates are Sanskrit पतति (pátati, “to fly, fall”), Latin petō (“to make for, seek”), Middle Welsh ehedec (“to fly”), Hittite pattai- (“to run, fly”) and the Old English word feþer (“feather”).[3][1][4] πτερόν (pterón) and πτέρυξ (ptérux) “wing” and the iterative ποτάομαι (potáomai) are from the same root.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer birds and bees fly, and so do arrows, spears and the soul leaving the body; men, horses and chariots “fly” over the plain.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Sophocles young children are too weak “to fly far”, like fledglings; in Aristophanes πέτου “fly!” means “hurry!”.[5][7] Euripides uses it of love taking wing in pursuit, and Pindar of a people's fame flying far and wide.[7] The only present in Homer and Attic prose is πέτομαι;[5] Lucian condemned the late ἵπταμαι and called πέταμαι archaic.[5]

In the Septuagint animals fly, and arrows and sickles move through the air.[8] Modern Greek πετώ (petó) comes from Hellenistic πετῶ, remade on the future πετήσομαι.[9][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of birds, bees, missiles, the soul and fast horses.[5][6]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Sappho uses the present πέταμαι.[5][11]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of children likened to fledglings.[5][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the imperative for “hurry!”.[5][11]
  • 2nd century AD – Lucian condemns ἵπταμαι.[5][4][11]
  • Hellenistic Greek – A contracted πετῶ appears, the source of Modern Greek πετώ (petó).[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fly, of birds, insects, gods and their horses; of a soul leaving the body.[5][7]
  2. Of missiles, lightning, snow: to fly, speed through the air; of oars or weapons, to spring from the hand.[7][5]
  3. Of persons, horses and chariots: to dart, rush, hurry.[5][7]
  4. (figurative) Of love, to take wing; of fame, to fly abroad.[7]

Word family

  • ἀναπέτομαι (anapétomai)
  • ἀποπέτομαι (apopétomai)
  • διαπέτομαι (diapétomai)
  • εἰσπέτομαι (eispétomai)
  • ἐκπέτομαι (ekpétomai)
  • ἐπιπέτομαι (epipétomai)
  • καταπέτομαι (katapétomai)
  • παραπέτομαι (parapétomai)
  • περιπέτομαι (peripétomai)
  • προσπέτομαι (prospétomai)
  • ὑπερπέτομαι (huperpétomai)
  • ὑψιπέτης (hupsipétēs)
  • ὠκυπέτης (ōkupétēs)
  • ἀμφιπέτομαι (amphipétomai)
  • πετάννυμι (petánnūmi)
  • πετεινός (peteinós)
  • πίπτω (pī́ptō)
  • ποτάομαι (potáomai)
  • πτερόν (pterón)
  • πτέρυξ (ptérux)
  • πτηνός (ptēnós)
  • πτήσιμος (ptḗsimos)
  • πτῆσις (ptêsis)
  • πτητικός (ptētikós)
  • Latin petō
  • English feather

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
  11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge