πίπτω

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /pǐːp.tɔː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpip.to/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpip.to/^[1]

Forms

πῑ́πτω (pī́ptō) ^[1] Future πεσοῦμαι (pesoûmai), aorist ἔπεσον (Doric and Aeolic ἔπετον, later also ἔπεσα), perfect πέπτωκα.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *píptō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pi-pth₁-, a reduplicated present of the root Proto-Indo-European *peth₁- (“to fly, fall”), which is also behind πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”).^[4][5] Wiktionary sets up the root with another laryngeal, *peth₂-.^[1] Cognate with Sanskrit पापतीति (pā́patīti).^[1]

The long ι of πίπτω is unexplained; it is usually put down to the influence of ῥίπτω (rhī́ptō, “to throw”).^[4] The vowels of the perfect πέπτωκα (péptōka) and the noun πτῶμα (ptôma) are hard to reconcile with those of the verb “to fly” and may be a Greek innovation, as is the poetic present πίτνω (pítnō) with its short ι.^[4][6] The sigma of the Ionic-Attic aorist ἔπεσον (épeson) is also of unclear origin;^[4] Doric and Aeolic have ἔπετον (épeton).^[4][3][2] Beekes concludes that the whole system is a Greek development of the old verb for flying.^[4]

Ancient writers linked it with flying too: Philoxenus (1st century BC) derived it from the verb “to fly”, because things that fly look like things that fall.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it from the first book of the Iliad on, for persons and things that fall to the ground, for snow falling thick, and for warriors who fall in battle.^[8][3][2]

Semantic evolution

From falling to the ground the verb came to mean falling upon an enemy, throwing oneself down before someone as a suppliant, and falling in battle, so that the perfect participle meant “the fallen”.^[3][2] It was used of houses and states that collapse and are ruined, and of falling into misfortune or illness.^[3] Thrown dice and lots were said to fall, and so it also meant “turn out”.^[2][3] Greek geometers used it of lines that fall on or meet one another.^[3]

In the New Testament it is used of things falling from a height and of people falling down in worship or in death.^[9] The medieval and modern everyday verb is Modern Greek πέφτω (péfto), from πίπτω with an irregular change of /pt/ to /ft/ and an /e/ taken from the aorist stem πεσ-; πίπτω itself survives as a learned word.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for falling to the ground and falling in battle.^[12][3][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony and the Works and Days.^[8][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar has the Doric aorist ἔπετον, and Aeschylus uses it of a house that has fallen.^[3][13]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid uses it of lines falling on others.^[3][13]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses the aorist ἔπεσα beside ἔπεσον.^[9][2]
• Middle Ages – The everyday form becomes Modern Greek πέφτω (péfto).^[10][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fall down, to drop, from a height or to the ground; of snow, rain or tears, to fall.^[3][2]
2. To fall upon, attack.^[3]
3. To throw oneself down, fall at someone's knees.^[3]
4. To fall in battle, to die, so that οἱ πεπτωκότες are the fallen.^[3][2]
5. To fall, be ruined, of a house, a state or a person.^[3]
6. To fall into a state or condition, such as illness or misfortune.^[3]
7. Of dice or lots, to fall; to turn out.^[3][2]
8. (geometry) Of lines, to fall upon or meet.^[3]

Related words

• πέτομαι (pétomai)
• πτῶμα (ptôma)
• πίτνω (pítnō)

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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge