πτῶμα

Forms

πτῶμᾰ (ptôma) n (genitive πτώμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”) + -μα (-ma), a noun of result, on the long-vowel stem πτω- (ptō-) that the verb shows in the perfect πέπτωκα (péptōka).^[1][2] Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the verb, with πτῶσις (ptôsis, “fall; grammatical case”).^[2] Etymonline and Babiniotis trace the verb to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to rush, fly, fall”).^[3][4]

Its sense “corpse” is literally “that which has fallen”.^[5] Wiktionary compares Latin cadāver, from cadō (“to fall”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first texts are Aeschylus' tragedies: the Prometheus Bound speaks of an unbearable fall, and in the Suppliants the word seems to mean the fallen bodies of men that stain the ground.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is a fall, a downfall and a calamity sent by the gods, and with the genitive a fallen body: Euripides speaks of the body of Helen and of Eteocles.^[6][8] Plato uses it of a city's downfall and of a fall in wrestling.^[8] In Hellenistic prose it means a corpse without any genitive, as in Polybius, who also uses it for the ruins of a wall; inscriptions from Delos use it for ruined buildings.^[6][8] Dioscorides uses the plural for bruises from a fall, and papyri for payments falling due.^[6]

In the Gospels it is a dead body, especially of one killed by violence, and the carcass round which the vultures gather.^[5] It survives as Modern Greek πτώμα (ptóma), a learned word for a corpse.^[9] In 1878 the Italian chemist Francesco Selmi coined ptomaina from it for the poisons formed in decaying matter, whence English ptomaine.^[3]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a fall and for fallen bodies.^[6][7][10]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for a calamity and for the body of a slain person.^[6][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the downfall of a city and a fall in wrestling.^[8][10]
• 3rd century BC – Inscriptions from Delos use it for ruined buildings.^[6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a corpse and for the ruins of a wall.^[6][8][10]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses the plural for bruises; the Gospels use it for a corpse.^[6][5][10]
• 1878 – Francesco Selmi coins Italian ptomaina from it.^[3]
• Modern Greek – πτώμα is a learned word for a corpse.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fall, from a height or to the ground; a downfall.^[6][8]
2. A fall in wrestling.^[6][8]
3. A misfortune, calamity.^[6]
4. (in the plural, medicine) Injuries from falls, bruises.^[6]
5. A fallen body, corpse, carcass.^[6][8][5]
6. A ruin of a building or wall; a breach in a city wall.^[6][8]
7. (papyri) A payment falling due.^[6]

Related words

• πίπτω (píptō)
• πτῶσις (ptôsis)
• σύμπτωμα (súmptōma)
• English ptomaine

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge