σανδάλιον

Forms

σανδάλιον (sandálion) n (genitive σανδαλίου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Ancient Greek σάνδαλον (sándalon) + -ιον (-ion).^[1][2][3] The base word, found from the Homeric Hymn to Hermes on, also has the form σάμβαλον (sámbalon) in Sappho and other poets.^[3][2]

Beekes considers σάνδαλον (sándalon) Pre-Greek, because the alternation of ⟨νδ⟩ with ⟨μβ⟩ is also found in κορίανδρον (koríandron) beside κορίαμβλον (koríamblon), which may likewise be different adaptations of a foreign word.^[3] Frisk calls the origin unknown,^[4] and Wiktionary mentions a possible loan from Parthian, Persian or another language of Asia Minor.^[1] Etymonline also suggests a foreign word, perhaps Persian.^[5]

Latin sandalium was borrowed from the Greek word.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Herodotus (5th century BC), who uses it in the singular for a sandal.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word is mostly used in the plural, for a pair of sandals: so the comic poets Cratinus and Cephisodorus.^[2][9] The Septuagint has it in Joshua, and in the New Testament the angel tells Peter to put on his sandals (Acts 12:8); BDAG describes the object as a sole of leather or other material held on the foot by thongs.^[2][7][10]

A papyrus of the 2nd century AD uses it for horseshoes for donkeys, and the physician Heliodorus, quoted by Oribasius, for a surgical bandage.^[2][8] Like the base word, it was also the name of a flat fish, which Hesychius took to be the same as the ψῆττα (psêtta).^[2]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word as σανδάλι(ον), with a form σαντάλιν in which ⟨νδ⟩ became ⟨ντ⟩, recorded from the 7th century and still used in Pontic Greek.^[11] Modern Greek has σανδάλι (sandáli), also written σαντάλι.^[12] English sandal goes back, through Old French and Latin, to the Greek word.^[5]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it, in the singular, for a sandal.^[2][8]
• 5th century BC – Cratinus uses it in the plural for sandals.^[2][8]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint translation of Joshua uses it.^[2][7]
• 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles uses it for Peter's sandals.^[10][7]
• 2nd century AD – A papyrus from Oxyrhynchus uses it for horseshoes for donkeys.^[2]
• 7th century AD – The vernacular form σανδάλιν is first recorded.^[11]
• 14th century – English takes over the word as sandal, through Old French and Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – The word survives as σανδάλι (sandáli).^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sandal, mostly in the plural.^[2][9][10]
2. A horseshoe for a donkey.^[2]
3. (medicine) A kind of surgical bandage.^[2]
4. A flat fish, the same as σάνδαλον (sándalon).^[2]

Related words

• σάνδαλον (sándalon)
• σάμβαλον (sámbalon)
• Latin sandalium
• English sandal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c 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 Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki