πίσος

Forms

πῐ́σος (písos) m (genitive πῐ́σου); second declension^[1] Also neuter πίσον (píson) (Alexis), and often accented πισός in the manuscripts.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is a loanword from an unknown source.^[3][4][5] Boisacq proposed a Thraco-Phrygian source.^[4][1] Latin pisum (“pea”) is the same word, probably borrowed from Greek, though Chantraine leaves open whether Latin took it from Greek or both took it from the same source.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Attic comedy, in Eupolis and in a fragment of Aristophanes, meaning the pea.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Theophrastus counts it among the pulses, and a papyrus from Tebtunis of the 2nd century BC lists it.^[2] Beekes and Chantraine identify it as the field pea, Pisum arvense, and LSJ as the garden pea, Pisum sativum.^[3][5][2] Aristophanes has the adjective πίσινος (písinos, “made of peas”).^[5][4]

Latin pisum is the same word, and Kriaras records vernacular medieval πίσος (písos) and πισσός (pissós) beside πινσός (pinsós).^[6][3][7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Eupolis and Aristophanes use it in comedy for the pea.^[2][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus names it among the pulses, and Alexis uses the neuter πίσον (píson).^[2]
• 2nd century BC – A papyrus from Tebtunis lists it.^[2]
• 2nd century AD – Galen mentions it.^[8]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Athenaeus mentions it.^[8]
• 1100–1669 – Kriaras records the vernacular forms πίσος (písos) and πισσός (pissós).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pea, the plant and its seed.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• Latin pisum

Usage notes

Herodian discusses its accent, and the manuscripts often write it πισός.^[2]

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux