πλάξ

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /pláks/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈplaks/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈplaks/^[1]

Forms

πλάξ (pláx) f (genitive πλᾰκός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pləks, probably from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).^[1] Beekes takes it as a root noun *pl̥k-s, with the cognates Latvian plakt (“to become flat”), plaka (“lowland, plain”) and Old Norse flaga (“thin layer”), and perhaps fló (“layer”) and Old High German fluoh (“rock wall”) with a long vowel.^[2][3] Chantraine compares the Old Norse plural flœr (“rocky terraces”) directly.^[3] Beside *pl̥k- there are πλάγιος (plágios, “oblique”), πλάσσω (plássō, “to mould”) and παλάμη (palámē, “palm”), but whether they are related is uncertain; the link with πέλαγος (pélagos, “sea”) is doubtful.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Pindar and tragedy for a flat surface: a plain, the expanse of the sea, or a mountain plateau.^[2][4] Pindar's first Pythian ode speaks of the plain of the sea.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Aeschylus it is the whole expanse of a continent, and Sophocles uses it for the plain of the dead.^[4][5] Euripides uses it for the expanse of the sky.^[4] From Hellenistic times it meant a flat stone or slab, a tablet or a board.^[2] In the Septuagint and early Christian writers it is the stone tablets of the Law.^[7]

The derivative πλακοῦς (plakoûs, “flat cake”) gave Latin placenta (“a flat cake”).^[2] Medieval Greek made a new nominative πλάκα (pláka) from the accusative.^[8][9] Its descendant Modern Greek πλάκα (pláka) means a slab, and its senses “plaque” and “joke” come from French plaque and, by folk etymology, blague.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the expanse of the sea, Aeschylus for a plain.^[5][4][10]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for a plateau and for the plain of the dead.^[4][10]
• Medieval Greek – The form πλάκα (pláka) appears.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek πλάκα (pláka).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flat, broad area; a plain, an expanse of land.^[4][5]
2. The expanse of the sea or the sky.^[4][5]
3. A flat hilltop, a plateau; the top of a wall or tower.^[4]
4. (Hellenistic) A flat stone, a slab, a board.^[2]
5. (Septuagint, New Testament) A tablet for writing, especially the tablets of the Law.^[7]

Word family

• πλακοῦς (plakoûs)
• πλάκινος (plákinos)
• πλακόεις (plakóeis)
• δίπλαξ (díplax)

Related words

• πλάγιος (plágios)
• Latin placenta

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge