Etymologically
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πίθος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pí.tʰos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpi.θos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpi.θos/[1]

Forms

πῐ́θος (píthos) m (genitive πῐ́θου); second declension[1] Mycenaean qe-to.[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes considers it from Pre-Greek, because the word varies between ε and ι (Mycenaean Greek qe-to in Mycenaean) and between πιθ- (pith-) and φιδ- (phid-) (πιθάκνη (pitháknē) beside φιδάκνη (phidáknē)), variations typical of Pre-Greek words.[2][4] Wiktionary notes that many Greek words for pottery are Pre-Greek, and adds the variant πίδος (pídos).[1] Chantraine also takes it to be a loanword.[3] PHILOGLOSSA lists it among the Pre-Greek names of containers.[5]

The older comparison with Latin fidēlia (“earthenware pot”) and Old Norse biða (“milk pail”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰidʰ-, which Frisk accepted as an ancient name for a cask, is ruled out by the Mycenaean form, which requires an initial labiovelar.[3][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for large jars of wine, πίθοι οἴνοιο, kept in a house.[7][8][2]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod and Herodotus use it for storage jars, usually of earthenware;[8][9] Herodotus also mentions silver jars sent by Croesus to Delphi, and Strabo uses it for wooden casks.[8][9] It gave several proverbs: drawing water into the pierced jar, the labour of the Danaids, meant toil in vain, and Plato and Aristotle apply the image to insatiable appetites and to the handouts of demagogues; learning pottery on a great jar meant trying to run before one can walk; and “the life of the jar” was a Cynic's life like that of Diogenes.[8][9]

The diminutive πιθάριον (pithárion) survives as Modern Greek πιθάρι (pithári), the everyday word for a storage jar.[10][11] Modern Greek πίθος (píthos) itself is a learned word, used in the phrase “the jar of the Danaids” for an effort that can never succeed.[10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for jars of wine.[7][8]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for storage jars.[8][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus writes of earthenware and silver jars.[8]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the leaking jar for insatiable appetites, and Xenophon for labour in vain.[8]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle applies the leaking jar to the handouts of demagogues.[8]
  • 1st century BC–1st century AD – Strabo uses it for wooden casks.[8]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek πιθάρι (pithári) continues the diminutive; Modern Greek πίθος (píthos) is learned.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large storage jar, especially for wine, usually of earthenware; also a wooden cask.[8][9][2]

Word family

  • πιθάκνη (pitháknē)
  • πιθάριον (pithárion)
  • πιθίσκος (pithískos)
  • πιθώδης (pithṓdēs)

Usage notes

Proverbs: to draw water into the pierced jar, of labour in vain;[8] to learn pottery on a great jar, of beginning with the hardest task;[8][9] “the life of the jar”, of a Cynic's life.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  10. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας