παστός

Forms

πᾰστός (pastós) m (feminine πᾰστή, neuter πᾰστόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

The verbal adjective of πάσσω (pássō) “to sprinkle, strew”, with the suffix -τός (-tós): “sprinkled”, and so “salted”.^[1][2][3] The noun “bridal chamber, bridal bed” is the same word: Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the verb, which already in Homer also means “to weave” figures into a cloth, so that the noun began as the embroidered curtain or coverlet of a bed.^[2][4] Wiktionary adds that it was also influenced by παστάς (pastás) “porch, chamber”.^[1] The Etymologicum Magnum already derived the noun from the verb, explaining it as a tent made of embroidered hangings.^[5]

The origin of the verb is unknown.^[4][2] Chantraine finds no plausible etymology and thinks the comparison with Latin quatiō “to shake” unlikely,^[4] and Beekes notes that it would require a root Proto-Indo-European *kʷh₂t- and would leave the long vowel of the Epidaurian form unexplained.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first found in the Hippocratic Internal Affections, of salted food.^[6][2] The noun appears in the Hellenistic period, in a papyrus from Karanis of the 3rd century BC and in the Septuagint.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective the word stayed a kitchen and medical term: salted fish and sea urchins are listed in Diocletian's Price Edict; the Hippocratic writers use the neuter παστόν for a medicinal powder, and the neuter plural παστά was a barley porridge, according to Hesychius made of cheese and meal.^[6]

The noun belongs to the vocabulary of marriage.^[6][7] The Septuagint uses it five times for the bridal chamber, most famously in the psalm where the sun comes out “like a bridegroom from his chamber”, and Lust notes that it may be a new word there.^[7][6] Epigrams use it for the bridal bed, inscriptions from Smyrna and Naucratis and Dio Chrysostom for an embroidered bed-curtain, and one epitaph for a wedding song; in Herodas it may mean a shrine.^[6] The derivative παστοφόρος (pastophóros) was an Egyptian priest who carried such a shrine.^[2]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept both words: the noun for the bridal room and bed and also for the wedding feast, the adjective for meat or fish kept in salt and for dried fruit or cheese.^[8] Modern Greek παστός (pastós) means “salted”, of fish or meat, as in salted cod; the noun lives on only in dialect forms.^[9][8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Internal Affections uses the adjective of salted food.^[6][10]
• 3rd century BC – A papyrus from Karanis and Posidippus use the noun for a bridal chamber, and Herodas uses it perhaps of a shrine.^[6][10]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses the noun for the bridal chamber in the Psalms, Joel and Maccabees.^[7]
• 1st century BC – An inscription from Naucratis uses it for an embroidered bed-curtain.^[6]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for a bridal chamber.^[6][10]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use the noun for the bridal room and the wedding feast, and the adjective for salted or dried food.^[8]
• Modern Greek – παστός (pastós) means “salted”.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sprinkled with salt, salted, of fish and other food.^[6][2]
2. (neuter, as a noun) A medicinal powder.^[6]
3. (neuter plural, as a noun) A kind of barley porridge; according to Hesychius, a dish of cheese and meal.^[6]

Noun

1. A woman's chamber, a bridal chamber.^[6][7]
2. A bridal bed.^[6]
3. An embroidered bed-curtain.^[6][2]
4. A bridal hymn.^[6]
5. Perhaps a shrine.^[6]

Word family

• παστοφόρος (pastophóros)
• παστόω (pastóō)

Related words

• πάσσω (pássō)
• παστάς (pastás)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
3. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge