πτερόν

Forms

πτερόν (pterón) n (genitive πτεροῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pterón,^[1] built on the zero grade of the root of πέτομαι (pétomai) “to fly”, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to fly”).^[2][3] Wiktionary gives the Indo-European noun as *péth₂r̥ (“feather”).^[1]

The other languages have no exact match of *pt-er-: they continue *petr-, as in Latin accipiter (“hawk”), Old High German fedara (“feather”) and Old Norse fjǫðr (“feather”), and Greek keeps that stem in a phrase of Alcman, “winged dreams”.^[2] The English word feather belongs to the same group.^[1] Hittite pattar (“wing”) has a heteroclitic stem, and Latin penna (“feather, wing”) an n-stem from the same root.^[2] Beekes rejects the old comparison with the Slavic words for “feather”, which belong to another root.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Iliad a feather and, in the plural, a bird's wings.^[4][3] Homer already uses it figuratively of the oars of a ship, “the wings of ships”, and as an image of speed, “swift as a wing or a thought”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Lyric and tragic poets gave the wing many images: a god or a parent shelters people under its wings, a song flies on the wings of the Muses, and the victor's crown lends him wings.^[3][5] Tragedy uses it of any winged creature, such as the Sphinx, and of a feathered arrow, and Sophocles of an omen read from birds.^[3][5] Aeschylus has the proverb of being shot with an arrow feathered from one's own plumes, and Lucian that of priding oneself on borrowed plumes.^[3]

Herodotus uses it of the wings of bats, and Aristotle of those of insects.^[3] Later it names wing-like things: the side walls of Egyptian temples in Strabo, battlements in Procopius.^[3]

Medieval Greek changed /pt/ to /ft/, giving Modern Greek φτερό (fteró), already in Meursius' glossary.^[6][7] Modern Greek uses it for a feather and a wing, and as a calque on English wing and French aile in new senses.^[7] The scientific prefix English ptero- comes from it.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for feathers and wings, and figuratively for oars.^[4][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod speaks of the “wings” of a ship.^[3][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the wings of bats, and Euripides of a feathered arrow and of the Sphinx.^[3][5][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the wings of insects.^[3][9]
• 1st century BC – 1st century AD – Strabo calls the side walls of Egyptian temples its “wings”.^[3][9]
• 6th century AD – Procopius uses it of battlements.^[3][9]
• Medieval Greek – The form φτερό appears.^[6][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feather; usually in the plural, plumage.^[3][5]
2. A wing of a bird, a bat, an insect, or a winged god or horse; often as an image of speed or protection.^[3][5]
3. (poetic) A winged creature, such as the Sphinx.^[3][5]
4. (poetic) An omen from birds.^[3][5]
5. (figurative) Something that serves as a wing: the oars or sails of a ship; a feathered arrow.^[3][5]
6. A wing-like structure: the side walls of an Egyptian temple; battlements.^[3]

Word family

• κυανόπτερος (kuanópteros)
• λευκόπτερος (leukópteros)
• μελανόπτερος (melanópteros)
• ποικιλόπτερος (poikilópteros)
• πτερόεις (pteróeis)
• πτερόω (pteróō)
• ἄπτερος (ápteros)
• δίπτερος (dípteros)
• κολεόπτερος (koleópteros)
• πτέρινος (ptérinos)
• ὑμενόπτερος (humenópteros)

Related words

• πέτομαι (pétomai)
• πτέρυξ (ptérux)
• English ptero-

Usage notes

Aeschylus says that one never sees the same “feather” of trouble, meaning that it takes many forms, probably with the image of plumage that changes its hue.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge