πτύω

Forms

πτῡ́ω (ptū́ō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is an inherited verb for spitting, which Beekes traces to a heavy initial cluster, Proto-Indo-European *tspi(e)uH- (“to spew, spit”);^[2] the LIV reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *spti̯eu̯H- (“to spit”).^[3] The present has a long vowel (πτῡ́ω), while the aorist ⟨ἔπτῠσα⟩ has a short one, modelled on aorists such as ἐρῠ́σαι (erúsai); the short stem was carried into πτύσις (ptúsis) and, with an analogical ⟨σ⟩, into πτύσμα (ptúsma).^[2][4][5]

The word has related forms in many languages, but their beginnings differ: an initial /sp-/ appears in Latin spuō, Old English spīwan and Lithuanian spjauti, and perhaps in Sanskrit ष्ठीवति (ṣṭhīvati), while Old Church Slavonic пльвати (plĭvati) and Old Armenian թուք (tʻukʻ, “spittle”) have no /s/, and Albanian pështyj has the sounds in another order.^[2][1] Because of this variety, older scholars, including Frisk and Chantraine, saw the word as imitative and gave up the search for one original form;^[4][5] Beekes holds that a cluster such as *tsp- explains the attested forms best.^[2] Chantraine adds that spitting was a magical act, done to ward off the evil eye, which helps explain why the forms vary so much.^[5] Within Greek, Doric ἐπιφθύσδω (epiphthúzō) is a variant of ἐπιπτύω (epiptúō).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Iliad, of spitting out blood.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

From Homer on the verb meant to spit something out, and later simply to spit.^[8][9] In Sophocles' Antigone the participle πτύσας means “with loathing”.^[9][8] Spitting three times into one's own bosom was a way to avert a bad omen or the evil eye, as Theocritus and Theophrastus describe it.^[9][8] In Hellenistic poetry the sea “spits” a body onto the shore, and waves splash against the beach.^[9][8] A proverbial phrase, “before you can spit”, meant “in an instant”, in Menander.^[9]

In the New Testament it is used of spitting on the ground and on a man's eyes in healings.^[10] The medieval vernacular form Byzantine Greek φτύνω (ftýno), with /pt/ changed to /ft/ and a new present in -νω built on the aorist stem, is the ordinary Modern Greek verb φτύνω (ftíno); Modern Greek πτύω (ptío) survives only as a learned word.^[11][12][13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of spitting out blood.^[6][9]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses the participle for spitting someone away in disgust, and Hippocratic writers use the verb of sputum.^[9][8][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus and Theocritus describe spitting into one's bosom to avert evil.^[9][8]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it of spitting on the ground and on a man's eyes in healings.^[10][9]
• 1st century AD – Babrius uses it of fish spawning.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The everyday verb is φτύνω (ftíno), continuing the medieval form; πτύω is learned.^[11][12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To spit out something, such as blood.^[9][8]
2. To spit, to discharge saliva; with the dative, to spit in someone's face.^[8][9]
3. (figurative) To spurn or reject with loathing.^[9][8]
4. To spit into one's bosom as a ritual act against an omen, magic or divine envy.^[9][8]
5. Of the sea, to cast up something on the shore; of waves, to splash.^[9][8]
6. Of fish, to spawn.^[9]
7. Of certain wines, in the passive, to make the saliva flow.^[9]

Word family

• πτύσμα (ptúsma)

Usage notes

Menander's phrase “before spitting” meant “at once, in no time at all”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr