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σάττω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /sát.tɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈsat.to/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈsat.to/[1]

Forms

σᾰ́ττω (sáttō) [1]

Etymology

Beekes and Wiktionary derive it from the root Proto-Indo-European *twenk- (“to press together”).[2][1][3] The same root is found in Old High German dwingan (“to compress, coerce”) and Lithuanian tveñkti (“to dam up”).[2][1] Beekes finds the link with Tocharian A twāṅk- difficult, because the forms need different preforms and the meaning of the rare Tocharian verb, traditionally “to force in”, is uncertain.[2]

The present σάττω (Ionic σάσσω (sássō)), the aorist σάξαι (sáxai) and the perfect σέσαγμαι (sésagmai) form a regular system, and the nouns σαγή (sagḗ) and σάγμα (ságma) have an analogical /g/.[2] Bechtel argued the reverse, that /g/ is original, as in Cretan σάδδῃ (sáddēi), and the present analogical, but Beekes thinks this implausible.[2][4] Chantraine, writing earlier, regarded the family as technical terms with no plausible etymology.[4] Beekes compares σηκός (sēkós) and συχνός (sukhnós).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aeschylus' Agamemnon, where a messenger comes “laden with woes”, and in Herodotus, who uses the aorist of stocking a route with water and the middle of strengthening a wall.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Attic comedy the verb is the everyday word for stuffing and packing: Pherecrates has every man filling a jar, a basket or leather sacks, Eubulus cheeks crammed full, and Alexis a dish stuffed with cheese and salt.[5] The Hippocratic writers use the Ionic σάσσω for packing a body cavity with aromatic substances.[5] Xenophon uses it of pressing earth tight round a plant and of a trireme packed with men.[5][6] Aristotle notes that vessels do not grow larger when packed full and compares desire to a vessel that is filled.[5][6] Polybius has fruit packed into jars, and in the passive the verb also meant being fully equipped as a soldier.[5][6]

From σάττω come the nouns σαγή (sagḗ) and σάγμα (ságma).[2]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the perfect participle of a messenger laden with woes.[5][6][8]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of stocking a route with water and of strengthening a wall.[5][6][8]
  • 5th century BC – Pherecrates and other comic poets use it for stuffing jars, baskets and bellies.[5][8]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of pressing soil round a plant and of a ship full of men.[5][6][8]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of vessels packed full and of filling desire.[5][8]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of packing fruit into jars.[5][6][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stuff, cram, fill quite full, with the genitive or dative of the filling.[5][6]
  2. To pack something into a container.[5][6]
  3. To press close, compress, as soil round a plant; in the middle, to strengthen a wall.[5][6]
  4. To stock or provision, as a route with water.[6]
  5. (passive) To be loaded or manned, as a ship with men, and figuratively to be laden with woes or with riches of the soul.[5][6]
  6. (passive) Of soldiers, to be fully equipped.[6]

Word family

  • περισάττω (perisáttō)
  • σαγή (sagḗ)
  • σάγμα (ságma)
  • σάκτας (sáktās)
  • σάκτωρ (sáktōr)
  • ἀποσάττω (aposáttō)
  • διασάττω (diasáttō)
  • ἐνσάττω (ensáttō)
  • ἐπισάττω (episáttō)
  • κατασάττω (katasáttō)
  • παρασάττω (parasáttō)
  • σάξις (sáxis)
  • σηκός (sēkós)
  • συχνός (sukhnós)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge