περιφέρεια

Forms

περιφέρεια (periphéreia) f (genitive περιφερείᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek περιφερής (peripherḗs, “circular, revolving”) with the suffix -ια (-ia).^[1][2][3] The adjective comes from περιφέρω (periphérō, “to carry round, revolve”), made of περί (perí, “around”) and φέρω (phérō, “to carry”),^[1][3] which is Proto-Hellenic *pʰérō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a saying of Heraclitus: on the circumference of a circle, beginning and end are common.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

A Hippocratic treatise uses it for roundness, and Aristotle, who made it a geometrical term, for a curve and for the arc of a circle.^[4][3] Euclid uses it for an arc, Theophrastus for the curved edge of a leaf, and Plutarch for the rounded surface of helmets and the circumference of a shield or a cave.^[4][2] The Septuagint gives it a moral sense, “wandering, error” in the heart.^[4] Hesychius and Zonaras gloss it both as “circle” and as “distortion”.^[5][6]

Late Latin borrowed it as peripheria, the source of the English word periphery.^[7] In Modern Greek περιφέρεια (periféria) is a learned word for the circumference of a circle and the outline of a round body, and also for the territory under an authority, such as one of the administrative regions of Greece, or the area around a centre.^[8] Babiniotis dates the adjectives περιφερειακός (perifereiakós) to 1886 and περιφερικός (periferikós) to 1841, the second rendering French périphérique.^[3]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus speaks of the circumference of a circle.^[4][3]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic treatise On Joints uses it for roundness.^[4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a curve and for the arc of a circle.^[4]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid uses it for an arc.^[4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the surface of helmets and the circumference of a shield.^[2][4]
• Late 14th century – English borrows periphery from French and Medieval Latin.^[7]
• 1841 – The learned περιφερικός (periferikós) is formed after French.^[3]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means a circumference and also an administrative region.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The circumference of a circle, the outline of anything round.^[4][2]
2. A rounded surface (of a sphere, of a helmet).^[4][2]
3. A curve; roundness, curvature.^[4][2]
4. (geometry) An arc of a circle.^[4]
5. (Septuagint) Wandering, error (of the heart).^[4]

Related words

• περιφερής (peripherḗs)
• περιφέρω (periphérō)
• φέρω (phérō)
• Latin peripheria
• English periphery

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
6. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki