πτερύγιον

Forms

πτερῠ́γῐον (pterúgion) n (genitive πτερῠγῐ́ου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Ancient Greek πτέρυξ (ptérux, “wing”) + -ιον (-ion), literally “little wing”.^[1][2][3] Modern Greek πτερύγιο (pterýgio) is a learned revival of the ancient word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first text with the word is the Hippocratic Prorrhetic, where it names a disease of the eye in which a membrane grows over it from the inner corner.^[2][5] Aristotle uses it in the 4th century BC for the fins of fish and the tail flaps of lobsters.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From “little wing” the word spread to anything shaped like a wing.^[2] Aristotle applied it to fins, the tail flaps of crustaceans, the fins of cuttlefish and the “horns” of the horned owl, and the comic poets to fried cuttlefish fins.^[2] In technical prose it was the flap of a cuirass or of a garment, the end of a rudder, the wings of the nose and parts of the ear and the shoulder blade; doctors kept it for the eye disease and for a fleshy growth on the nails.^[2]

The Septuagint uses it for a wing, a fin, a projecting end and the border or flap of a garment.^[6] In the Gospels the devil sets Jesus on the πτερύγιον of the temple, its summit or pinnacle, and the same phrase occurs in Hegesippus as quoted by Eusebius.^[7][2]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a bird's wing.^[8] In Modern Greek πτερύγιο (pterýgio) is a learned word for the fin of a fish or of other swimming animals.^[4]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Prorrhetic uses it for a membrane growing over the eye.^[2][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for fins and the tail flaps of lobsters, and Aeneas Tacticus for the flap of a cuirass.^[2][5][9]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels of Matthew and Luke speak of the πτερύγιον of the temple, its pinnacle.^[7][2]
• 1st century AD – Celsus and Dioscorides use it for the eye disease and for a growth on the nails.^[2][9]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek uses it for a bird's wing.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for a fish's fin.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small wing, or anything like a wing.^[2]
2. The fin of a fish or cuttlefish; the tail flap of a lobster.^[2][3]
3. A wooden fin that steadies the flight of a projectile.^[3]
4. A flap or fold, as of a garment or a cuirass; the border of a garment.^[2][6]
5. (architecture) The summit or pinnacle of a building, as of the temple in Jerusalem.^[2][7][3]
6. (anatomy) The wing of the nose, a part of the ear, a part of the shoulder blade.^[2]
7. (medicine) A membrane growing over the eye from its inner corner; a fleshy growth on the nails.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b c 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 Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge