πίτνημι

Forms

πίτνημι (pítnēmi), a poetic verb with a few forms: participle πιτνάς, imperfect πίτνα, πίτναν, passive imperfect πίτνατο, (ἐ)πίτναντο.^[1][2] A thematic πίτνω occurs once, in the imperfect ἔπιτνον of the Hesiodic Shield.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is a poetic form of πετάννυμι (petánnumi, “to spread out”).^[3][2] LIV takes it as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pt-né-h₂-, a nasal-infix present of *peth₂- (“to spread out”), the same formation as Latin pandō (“to spread out, open”).^[4][5] The Πάπυρος dictionary explains it as a present in -νημι (-nēmi), like δάμνημι (dámnēmi), made from the zero grade of the root with a helping vowel.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Iliad, of a goddess spreading a mist before the fleeing Trojans, and in the passive of hair streaming out about a dragged man's head.^[7][3][1]

Semantic evolution

In the Odyssey and in Pindar it is used of stretching out one's hands.^[3][1] Sophocles uses it in a satyr play in a sexual sense, and Euripides has the passive of braziers or altars being set out.^[1][3] It stayed a rare poetic word, and later poets of the Greek Anthology use it of spreading garments.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 700s BC – The Iliad uses it of spreading a mist and of hair streaming out, and the Odyssey of stretching out one's arms.^[7][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of hands stretched out towards the sky.^[3][9]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it in drama.^[1][3][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To spread out, as a mist; in the passive, of hair, to stream out.^[1][7][3]
2. To stretch out one's hands.^[1][3]
3. (figurative) To excite, of a satyr.^[3][6]
4. (passive) To be set out, of braziers, or perhaps to be strewn with offerings, of altars.^[1][3]

Related words

• πετάννυμι (petánnumi)
• Latin pandō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge