προπετής

Forms

προπετής (propetḗs) m or f (neuter προπετές); third declension; comparative προπετέστερος, superlative προπετέστατος.^[1][2]

Etymology

From προπίπτω (propíptō, “to fall forward”): a compound of πρό (pró, “forward”) and a second element from the stem of πίπτω (pī́ptō, “to fall”), the same stem as in περιπετής (peripetḗs).^[1][3][4] Its first sense is therefore “falling or leaning forward”.^[5][6] The stem goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *peth₁- (“to fall, to fly”), which also gives πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”).^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Euripides and Sophocles: Euripides calls a girl to be sacrificed at a tomb “fallen forward” over it, and Sophocles speaks of a tuft of wool thrown to the ground.^[8][1][2]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “falling or leaning forward” is common in the Hippocratic writers (a patient slipping down in bed, a bone that juts forward) and in Xenophon, who uses it of a horse's drooping neck.^[2][1] Euripides also uses it of someone on the point of something, as a man “verging on” grey hair.^[2][1]

From “falling forward” came the figurative “headlong, ready for, prone to”, used by Plato and Xenophon, and then the sense that prevailed: rash, reckless, impetuous, in Demosthenes, Aristotle, Menander and Polybius.^[1][5] The Wisdom books of the Septuagint use it of people who talk without thinking, and the New Testament has it twice: the town clerk of Ephesus asks the crowd to do nothing rash (Acts 19:36), and 2 Timothy lists the reckless among the vices of the last days.^[6][4]

Medieval Greek formed the noun προπέτης “insolent person”.^[9] In Modern Greek προπετής (propetís) is a learned word for someone who speaks without thinking, or who is impudent.^[10][5]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Euripides and Sophocles use it of what has fallen forward or is ready to fall.^[2][1]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of a horse's neck and, figuratively, of men eager to kill.^[2][1]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Aristotle use it for rash and reckless.^[1]
• 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles uses it in the phrase “to do nothing rash”.^[4][6]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means hasty in speech, impudent.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Falling or leaning forward; prostrate, collapsed.^[2][1]
2. Thrown down, discarded.^[1][2]
3. Inclined forward, drooping; prominent, of the eyes or the jaws.^[2][1]
4. (figurative) On the point of, verging on.^[2][1]
5. (figurative) Headlong; ready for, prone to, eager.^[2][1]
6. (figurative) Rash, reckless, impetuous.^[1][4]

Word family

• προπέτεια (propéteia)

Related words

• προπίπτω (propíptō)
• πίπτω (pī́ptō)
• πέτομαι (pétomai)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ 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