πατέω

Forms

πᾰτέω (patéō) ^[1] Aeolic μάτημι (mátēmi) (Sappho); Delphic βατέω (batéō).^[2]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[3][4] It goes with πάτος (pátos), which means "path" in Homer and later "treading, trodden ground".^[5][3] Frisk showed that this noun in the second sense is a back-formation from the verb, as περίπατος (perípatos) and ἀπόπατος (apópatos) are from περιπατέω (peripatéō) and ἀποπατέω (apopatéō).^[5][4] He thought the noun meaning "path" might be an old variant of πόντος (póntos), so that the verb would be made from it.^[5] Beekes objects that "path" does not readily give "to tread", which is the movement of the legs, and Chantraine notes that the noun always means a beaten track, far from the old sense of the sea word.^[3][4] If that link is rejected, neither word has an etymology.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Iliad already has its figurative use, of the Trojans who "trampled on" the sworn oaths.^[4][6] In Pindar and Aeschylus it means to tread or walk, and also to tread on something.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In poetry the verb meant to walk, to set foot on a place, and, with an object, to tread on something, as on purple fabrics in Aeschylus.^[2][7] The sense of treading on led to trampling and despising, and that of walking in a place led to frequenting and dwelling in it.^[2][4] Aristophanes jokes that a man "has not thumbed" Aesop, using the perfect for knowing a book well.^[2][4]

The Septuagint and the papyri use it for treading grapes and threshing grain.^[3][4] In the New Testament it is to tread the winepress, to set foot on a place, and to trample a city underfoot.^[8][2] Many compounds took meanings of their own, such as περιπατέω (peripatéō) "to walk about" and καταπατέω (katapatéō) "to trample".^[4][5]

Medieval Greek πατώ (pató) meant to walk, to set foot on a place, and to live somewhere.^[9] Modern Greek πατώ (pató) continues the ancient verb: to step or tread on something, and to go somewhere.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of trampling on oaths.^[4][6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho has the Aeolic form, of treading the tender flowers of the grass.^[2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it for walking and for treading on something.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of ground that is not holy to tread on, and of dwelling on Lemnos.^[2][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of roads that wagons do not travel.^[2][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of treading the winepress and trampling a city.^[8]
• 3rd century AD – Papyri use it of threshing barley.^[2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular medieval Greek has πατώ (pató) "to walk, set foot on".^[9]
• Modern Greek – πατώ (pató) means to step or tread on.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tread, walk; figuratively, "to walk on high" (of a king's greatness).^[2][7]
2. To tread on, walk on or over (ground, fabrics); to step through.^[2][7]
3. To tread (grapes in the winepress); to thresh (grain).^[2][3][7]
4. To walk in, frequent, dwell in (a place); figuratively, to know a book well.^[2]
5. To trample on; figuratively, to treat with contempt (oaths, laws).^[7][2][4]

Word family

• ἀποπατέω (apopatéō)
• διαπατέω (diapatéō)
• ἐμπατέω (empatéō)
• καταπατέω (katapatéō)
• περιπατέω (peripatéō)
• συμπατέω (sumpatéō)
• ἀναπατέω (anapatéō)
• ἀντιπατέω (antipatéō)
• προπατέω (propatéō)

Related words

• ἀπάτητος (apátētos)
• πατησμός (patēsmós)
• πάτος (pátos)
• περίπατος (perípatos)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 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 e f g h i j k 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. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας