σειρά

Forms

σειρᾱ́ (seirā́) f (genitive σειρᾶς); first declension^[1] Ionic σειρή (seirḗ).^[2][3] Doric σηρά (sērá), recorded by grammarians.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is usually explained as inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tseřřā́,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *twer- (“to grasp, enclose”), as “the thing that seizes”, with the basic form *twer-yā; the cognate is Lithuanian tvérti (“to grasp, fence in”), and σορός (sorós) may belong to the same root.^[4][3][1][5] The initial /tw/ became /s/ in Greek.^[5]

A link with εἴρω (eírō, “to string together”) and Latin serō (“to join”) would suit the meaning better, but the initial σ- cannot be explained that way, and Chantraine calls it phonetically impossible.^[4][3][1] The comparison with Hittite turiya- (“to harness”) is very doubtful, and a “Pelasgian” explanation was also proposed.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning a cord or rope: in the Iliad Zeus challenges the gods to hang a golden cord from heaven and try to pull him down, and woodcutters carry well-plaited ropes.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus uses it for the lasso with a noose that the Sagartians used in war, and Plato quotes Homer's golden cord in the Theaetetus.^[2][6] The compound σειραφόρος (seiraphóros) named the trace-horse, which pulled by a rope beside the yoked pair, and was used figuratively of a helper.^[3][4] In medicine it meant a bandage (the Hippocratic treatise On Fractures, Galen, Soranus).^[2][6]

The Septuagint speaks of the “cords” of sins and uses it for the locks of Samson's hair, and some manuscripts of the Second Epistle of Peter have “chains of darkness”.^[2][8][9] The sense “line, series” appears late, in Damascius, and Tzetzes uses it of a lineage.^[2][3] Modern Greek σειρά (sirá) (a row, line, series, turn) is learned, taken from the Hellenistic sense “line, sequence”, with senses modelled on French série and English serial.^[10][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a cord or rope.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the lasso of the Sagartians.^[2][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato quotes Homer's golden cord in the Theaetetus.^[2][6]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it of the cords of sin and of locks of hair.^[2][9]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a bandage.^[2]
• 5th–6th century AD – Damascius uses it for a series.^[2]
• 12th century AD – Tzetzes uses it for a lineage.^[2]
• Modern Greek – σειρά (sirá) means a row, series or turn.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cord, rope; figuratively, a chain or bond.^[2][8]
2. A trace for a horse.^[2]
3. A lasso, a cord with a noose.^[2][4]
4. (medicine) A bandage.^[2]
5. (figurative) An animal's tail; a lock of hair.^[2]
6. (late) A line of descent, lineage; a series.^[2][3]

Word family

• σειραφόρος (seiraphóros)
• σειραῖος (seiraîos)
• σειρίς (seirís)
• ἀνασειράζω (anaseirázō)
• παράσειρος (paráseiros)

Related words

• σορός (sorós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki