πύματος

Forms

πύμᾰτος (púmatos) m (feminine πῠμάτη, neuter πύμᾰτον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a superlative form frozen as an adjective, with no match outside Greek.^[2][3] Schwyzer and Frisk allowed a distant link with Sanskrit पुनर् (púnar, “back, again, further”), which Beekes thinks unlikely.^[2][3][4] Others started from a form Proto-Indo-European *pu beside ἀπό (apó, “from, away”), as Latin po- stands beside it, but the dialect form ἀπύ (apú) of Arcadian, Cypriot, Lesbian and Thessalian probably arose from it by sound change.^[2][4][3] Beekes compares πύννος (púnnos) and πρυμνός (prumnós, “hindmost”).^[2]

Ancient grammarians derived it from πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom”) with the /th/ dropped.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means hindmost or outermost in space, of the rear ranks and the outer rim of a shield, and last in time, of the last man killed or the last meal.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed in epic and lyric verse: tragedy uses it only in sung passages.^[6] The neuter served as an adverb, “for the last time”, often in the Homeric pair with ὕστατος (hústatos).^[6][7] Sophocles uses it of old age that comes at the end and of the worst of fates.^[6][7] Hellenistic and later poets used it for what is remotest or nethermost: the far-off Aithiopians in Theocritus, the depths of Tartarus in Lucian.^[7][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the rear ranks and the rim of a shield, and the Odyssey of the last thing done.^[6][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the last in a series.^[7][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Parmenides uses it of the furthest limit.^[7][9]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it, in lyrics, of old age and of the worst fate.^[6][9]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus calls the Aithiopians the remotest people.^[7][9]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian speaks of the nethermost depths of Tartarus.^[6][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Hindmost, last in position; outermost; remotest.^[6][7]
2. Last in time, last of a series; before death.^[6][7]
3. Of degree: the worst.^[6]
4. Neuter as adverb: at the last, for the last time.^[6][7]

Related words

• ὕστατος (hústatos)
• ἔσχατος (éskhatos)
• πρυμνός (prumnós)

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b 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
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge