πίμπλημι

Forms

πῐ́μπλημῐ (pímplēmi) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pi-pléh₁- (“to fill”), a present with i-reduplication of the root *pleh₁- (“to fill, become full”);^[2][3][1] the /m/ before /pl/ is a secondary nasal.^[4][5] Its third singular πίμπλησι (pímplēsi) matches Avestan ham-pā-frāiti (“fills up”), and the aorist ἔπλησε (éplēse) matches Sanskrit अप्राः (áprās).^[3][4][6] The plural πίμπλαμεν (pímplamen), with its short vowel, cannot regularly come from *pi-pl̥h₁-mé, and is a Greek innovation.^[3][6] Other cognates are Sanskrit पिपर्ति (píparti), पृणाति (pṛṇā́ti, “fills”) and Latin -pleō (“to fill”).^[1][2]

The same root gives πλήρης (plḗrēs, “full”), like Old Armenian լիր (lir, “fullness”) and Latin plērus (“most”), and πληθύς (plēthū́s, “crowd”), like plēbēs.^[3] The intransitive πλήθω (plḗthō, “to be full”), which supplies the other tenses, has the suffix -θ-,^[3][2][7] and the full grade *pelh₁- appears in πολύς (polús, “much”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to fill a vessel or a bag, with a genitive of the contents (πλῆσαν πήρην σίτου, “they filled the bag with bread”), and to fill a person's heart with strength or courage; the aorist πλῆτο means “became full”.^[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod and the Homeric poems also use it for filling a space, a plain with dust or a shore with ships.^[8] In tragedy one fills an eye with tears, all Greece with tears.^[7][8] The passive means to be filled or full, and Chantraine notes its use for a pregnant female.^[6][8] In prose the compound ἐμπίμπλημι (empímplēmi) is more common, and the simple verb is very rare in late Greek.^[7][6]

The Septuagint uses it more than a hundred times, also for being satisfied with food.^[9] In Luke and Acts people are “filled” with the Spirit, with anger or fear, and time and prophecy are “fulfilled”.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for filling vessels and hearts.^[5][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of filling a barn, and the old form πιμπλεῖσαι.^[8][6][7]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus has the Aeolic form πίμπλεισι.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of filling eyes and lands with tears.^[7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon has the imperfect ἐπίμπλασαν.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fill a vessel or container, with the genitive of what fills it.^[7][8][5]
2. To fill a space: a place with corpses, a plain with dust, paths with cries.^[8][7]
3. (passive) To be filled, become full (of people, water, light, sound).^[8][7]
4. To fill a person with an emotion or strength.^[8][7]
5. (passive) To be satisfied, sated.^[9][6]
6. (New Testament, passive) Of time and prophecy, to be fulfilled.^[10][11]

Word family

• ἀναπίμπλημι (anapímplēmi)
• διαπίμπλημι (diapímplēmi)
• ἐκπίμπλημι (ekpímplēmi)
• ἐμπίμπλημι (empímplēmi)
• καταπίμπλημι (katapímplēmi)
• περιπίμπλαμαι (peripímplamai)
• ἐπιπίμπλημι (epipímplēmi)
• παραπίμπλημι (parapímplēmi)
• ὑπερπίμπλημι (huperpímplēmi)
• ὑποπίμπλημι (hupopímplēmi)

Related words

• ἄπληστος (áplēstos)
• ἄπλητος (áplētos)
• πλέως (pléōs)
• πλήθω (plḗthō)
• πλήμη (plḗmē)
• πλήρης (plḗrēs)
• πλῆσμα (plêsma)
• πλήσμη (plḗsmē)
• πλήσμιος (plḗsmios)
• πληθύς (plēthū́s)
• πολύς (polús)
• Latin pleō
• Latin plērus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f 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
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
11. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press