πίσον

Forms

πῐ́σον (píson) n (genitive πίσου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter form of πίσος (písos, “pea”), the more common name of the pea.^[2][3][1] Beekes and Frisk take the word as a loanword from an unknown source;^[4][5] Boisacq thought it Thraco-Phrygian, as Frisk reports.^[5][1]

Latin pisum is the same word.^[4][3] Beekes and Frisk take it as probably borrowed from Greek,^[4][5] while Chantraine leaves open whether Latin took it from Greek or both borrowed it in parallel.^[3] Etymonline traces Old English pise, the source of the English word pea, to Late Latin pisa, a variant of the Latin word, which it takes as probably a loan from this Greek word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pea is named in Old Comedy, by Aristophanes and Eupolis, with the masculine πίσος (písos) by LSJ's reading; the neuter is found in the Hippocratic treatise On Places in Man.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The masculine and the neuter are used side by side for the pea in comedy and in Theophrastus' botany; the neuter is in Alexis, and it is the usual form in Galen, Pollux and Artemidorus.^[2][7][4] LSJ identifies the plant as the garden pea, Pisum sativum, while Beekes and Chantraine have the field pea, Pisum arvense.^[2][4][3] The adjective πίσινος (písinos) “made of peas” is found in Aristophanes.^[4][3]

Latin pisum is the source, through Old English, of the English word pea, a false singular of pease.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Aristophanes and Eupolis name the pea, with the masculine form.^[2][4][8]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic treatise On Places in Man uses the neuter.^[7][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – The comic poet Alexis has the neuter, and Theophrastus writes of the plant.^[2][4][8]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus from Tebtunis records the masculine form.^[2]
• 2nd century AD – Galen, Pollux and Artemidorus use the neuter.^[7][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pea, the plant and its seed.^[2][1][4]

Word family

• πίσινος (písinos)

Related words

• πίσος (písos)
• Latin pisum
• English pea

Usage notes

The usual form is the masculine; the grammarian Herodian discusses its accent, and manuscripts often write it with the accent on the last syllable.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge