πειρατής

Forms

πειρᾱτής (peirātḗs) m (genitive πειρᾱτοῦ); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πειράω (peiráō) + -τής (-tēs), an agent noun from the verb ‘to attempt, put to the test’, which could also mean ‘to make an attempt on, attack’.^[2][3][4] Babiniotis compares agent nouns of the same type such as νικητής (nikētḗs, “victor”).^[3]

The verb is from Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “attempt, trial”),^[2] which comes through Proto-Hellenic *péřřa from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to cross, pass”), the root also of πείρω (peírō, “to pierce”) and περάω (peráō, “to cross”).^[2][1] The Aeolic form πέρρα (pérrha) shows the original cluster.^[2][5] Outside Greek, Latin perīculum (“trial, danger”) and Old Armenian փորձ (pʻorj, “attempt”) are compared.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Polybius, in the 2nd century BC, meaning a brigand and especially a pirate.^[6][7] The grammarian Ammonius noted that it was a later word for the older λῃστής (lēistḗs, “robber”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Septuagint uses it three times, in Job and Hosea, of raiders, and Lust suggests it may be a new word there.^[8] In the Hellenistic and Roman period it became the usual word for a sea robber, used by Strabo and Plutarch and in a Delphic inscription of the 2nd–1st century BC.^[6][7]

It was borrowed as Latin pirata,^[9][3] and through Latin it spread to the languages of Europe: English pirate is recorded from about 1300, from Old French and Medieval Latin.^[4][3] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word, also in the form πειράτης, for a robber, once in a simile for the devil.^[10] In Modern Greek πειρατής (piratís) is a learned form of the Hellenistic word, meaning a pirate.^[11][3]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for brigands and for pirates.^[6][7][12]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it in Job and Hosea for raiders.^[8][12]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo writes of pirates with it.^[6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it in his Lives, and the grammarian Ammonius calls it the later word for a robber.^[6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it, and the form πειράτης, for a robber.^[10]
• About 1300 – English borrows pirate from Old French and Medieval Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned πειρατής (piratís) means a pirate.^[11][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brigand, robber.^[6][7]
2. A pirate, sea robber.^[6][7][8]

Word family

• πειρατικός (peiratikós)
• πειρατεύω (peirateúō)
• πειρατεία (peirateía)

Related words

• πεῖρα (peîra)
• πειράω (peiráō)
• Latin pirata
• English pirate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux