πλανήτης

Forms

πλᾰνήτης (planḗtēs) m (genitive πλᾰνήτου); first declension^[1] Doric πλανᾱ́τᾱς (planā́tās).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is an agent noun formed from Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō, “to wander”) + -της (-tēs).^[1] Babiniotis derives it through πλάνης (plánēs, “wanderer”), which LSJ treats as its equivalent.^[4][2] The verb's origin is uncertain: a link with Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“flat; to spread”) has been suggested, but Beekes finds the meaning a serious difficulty.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first texts with it are tragedies: in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus and in Euripides it means a wanderer or a straggler.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Euripides also uses it as an adjective, of a wandering life.^[2][3] Plato calls merchants who travel from city to city πλανῆται, and Xenophon uses it of hares that roam everywhere.^[2][3] In astronomy the “wandering stars” (ἀστέρες πλανῆται) were the planets, which seemed to wander among the fixed stars, and Aristotle and Plutarch have the phrase.^[7] Babiniotis finds the astronomical sense already in a fragment of Empedocles, who set the wandering stars against the fixed ones.^[4] Galen uses the word in medicine for a fever that comes in irregular fits.^[2][1] The Septuagint has it in Hosea for wanderers among the nations, and the Letter of Jude calls the ungodly “wandering stars”.^[7]

Latin borrowed it as planēta, and through Late Latin and Old French it became English planet, already in late Old English.^[1][5] Coptic borrowed it too.^[8] Modern Greek πλανήτης (planítis) is a learned word for a planet, taken from the Hellenistic phrase.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it for a wanderer.^[2][3][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for travelling merchants, Xenophon for roaming hares.^[2][3][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls the planets “wandering stars”.^[7][10]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for an irregular fever.^[2][10]
• Late Old English – English planet is borrowed through Old French and Late Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – The learned πλανήτης (planítis) means a planet.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wanderer, a vagabond; a straggler; a roaming merchant.^[2][3]
2. (astronomy, usually plural, with ἀστήρ (astḗr)) A planet, a “wandering star”.^[7][1]
3. (medicine) A fever that comes in irregular fits.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. Wandering, of a life.^[2][3]

Related words

• πλάνης (plánēs)
• πλανάω (planáō)
• Latin planēta
• English planet

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge