πυθμήν

Forms

πῠθμήν or πῡθμήν (puthmḗn or pūthmḗn) m (genitive πῠθμένος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *putʰmḗn,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”), a noun built on the root *bʰudʰ-.^[1][2] It has the old suffix -μήν (-mḗn) of λιμήν (limḗn) and ποιμήν (poimḗn), which was no longer productive in Greek.^[2][3][4]

The nearest cognate is Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná) “bottom, ground, foot, root”;^[2][3] Beekes and Chantraine explain its suffix as reduced from *bʰudʰ-mn-o-.^[2][3] Germanic has forms with -m- and with -n-: Old High German bodam, Old English botm (whence the English word bottom) and Old Norse botn.^[2][3] Latin fundus (“bottom”) is cognate too.^[1][5] The Proto-Hellenic form comes from earlier *pʰutʰmḗn, with the first of two aspirates losing its aspiration.^[1]

Ancient writers derived it from φυτόν (phutón, “plant”) and θέσις (thésis, “setting”), as the “setting of the plant”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it names the base or support of a cup and the legs of a tripod, and in the Odyssey the base of a tree trunk, next to the ground.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

From Hesiod on it is the bottom of a jar or chest, and the bed of the sea;^[10][8] Hesiod's advice to be sparing when the wine reaches the bottom of the jar became a proverb.^[10][8] Aeschylus has the earth shaken from its foundations and calls the base of Justice its πυθμήν;^[10][8] Pindar speaks of the depths of Tartarus.^[10][8]

Plato and later mathematicians used it for the base of a numerical series, the smallest numbers with a given ratio.^[2][3] In anatomy it named the fundus of univalve shells.^[10] The Septuagint uses it for the stem of a vine in Pharaoh's dream.^[11]

Medieval Greek kept it for the bottom of a thing and the hold of a ship.^[12] Modern Greek πυθμένας (pythménas) is a learned word, remodelled on the accusative πυθμένα.^[13][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the supports of a cup and the legs of a tripod.^[7][10]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the bottom of a jar and the bed of the sea.^[10][8][14]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of the foundations of the earth and of Justice.^[8][10][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the bottom of the sea and as a mathematical term.^[10][2][14]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in zoology for the fundus of univalves.^[10][14]
• Medieval Greek – The chronicle of Doukas uses it for the bottom of an object and the hold of a ship.^[12]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek πυθμένας (pythménas) survives as a learned word for the bottom of a vessel or of the sea.^[13][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bottom of a cup, jar or chest.^[10][8]
2. The bed or depths of the sea or a river; the abyss of Tartarus.^[10][8]
3. A base or foundation; the foot of a mountain;^[10][8] (figurative) the foundations of Justice.^[10][8]
4. A support of a cup; the leg of a tripod; in the plural, the sockets of a door.^[10][7]
5. The foot or stump of a tree; the stem of a plant.^[7][11][2]
6. (mathematics) The base of a series, the smallest numbers having a given ratio.^[2][3]
7. (anatomy) The fundus of univalve shells.^[10]

Word family

• ἀπύθμενος (apúthmenos)

Related words

• Latin fundus
• English bottom

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
6. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge