πτέρνη

Forms

πτέρνη (ptérnē) f (genitive πτέρνης); first declension^[1] Later πτέρνᾰ (ptérna), in Lycophron and the Septuagint.^[2][3] Mycenaean Greek pte-no, probably a dual naming a part of a chariot, perhaps a pair of footboards.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tpḗrsneh₂ (“heel”), an old Indo-European name of the heel.^[1][5] The initial /pt/ must continue an old cluster, probably *tp-, as Lubotsky proposed.^[5] Frisk and Pokorny still started from Proto-Indo-European *persnā.^[5][6][7]

Cognate with Latin perna (“ham, haunch”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌽𐌰 (fairzna, “heel”), Old High German fersana (“heel”) and probably Hittite paršina- (“buttock (?)”), and Indo-Iranian has the same word with a lengthened vowel, Sanskrit पार्ष्णि (pā́rṣṇi, “heel”).^[5][1][7] In Latin and Hittite the name of the heel moved to the haunch or the loins.^[6][3] Late Greek πέρνα (pérna, “ham”) has a separate source: it was borrowed from Latin.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first literary use is in the Iliad (22.397), of the heel.^[8][2][9]

Semantic evolution

Aeschylus uses it, in the plural, of the underside of the heel.^[2][10] Hippocratic writers use it of the heel in medical descriptions, and Galen of the heel-bone.^[2] Demosthenes asks his hearers whether they carry their brains in their heels.^[2]

It also named the lower part of things: the heel of a shoe in Herodas, the foot of towers in Lycophron, of a siege engine in Polybius, of a mast and of a catapult arm.^[2][10] The Septuagint uses it of a hoof and of footsteps, and has the later form πτέρνα.^[2][3] The derived verb πτερνίζω (pternízō) meant to strike with the heel, to trip someone up and so to supplant him.^[6]

Medieval Greek changed /pt/ to /ft/ in Modern Greek φτέρνα (ftérna), the Modern Greek word for the heel.^[11][4]

Timeline

• Mycenaean (Linear B) – A dual pte-no, probably this word, names a part of a chariot.^[3][4]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the heel.^[8][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the underside of the heel.^[2][12]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes speaks of brains carried in the heels.^[2][12]
• 3rd century BC – Herodas uses it for the heel of a shoe.^[2][12]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the base of a siege engine.^[2][10][12]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek φτέρνα (ftérna).^[11][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The heel of the human foot.^[2][10]
2. The underside of the heel; the heel-bone.^[2]
3. (Septuagint) A hoof; a footstep.^[2][10]
4. The heel of a shoe.^[2]
5. (figurative) The foot or lower part of something: of towers, a siege engine, a mast, a catapult.^[2][10]

Word family

• πτερνίζω (pternízō)
• πτερνίς (pternís)

Related words

• Latin perna

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge