σκάφη

Forms

σκᾰ́φη (skáphē) f (genitive σκᾰ́φης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek σκάπτω (skáptō, “to dig”), from its stem σκαφ- (skaph-), and so first meant something dug or scooped out.^[2][3][1][4] Beekes notes that σκάφη and σκάφος (skáphos, “hull”) fit a meaning “plane, scoop out” better than “dig”, the meaning of Latin scabō (“to scratch”) and Old High German scaban, with which the stem may be compared.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus has it for a bath or washtub, and Herodotus (4.73) for a tub or trough.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

It named hollow vessels of many kinds: a trough, tub or bowl, a kneading trough, a washtub or bath, in which the Hippocratic writers seat a patient in hot water.^[2][8][4] At the Panathenaea resident aliens carried offerings on trays called σκάφαι.^[2] The trough in which exposed children were set afloat, the children of Tyro and Romulus and Remus in Plutarch, was called a σκάφη, and Aristotle uses it of a cradle.^[8][2] From the tub came a light boat or skiff, with a pun in Aristophanes' Knights, and so in Polybius, the papyri and the ship's boat of Acts.^[2][8][6] Plutarch also uses it of the Persian execution in which a living man was encased in a trough.^[8]

A proverb about calling figs and a trough by their own names meant to speak plainly.^[2] Erasmus took σκάφη for a digging tool, and the proverb became English “call a spade a spade”.^[2][9] Latin borrowed the word as Latin scapha (“skiff”).^[10][1]

Modern Greek σκάφη (skáfi) continues it as the name of a long, deep washtub, and keeps the proverb.^[11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a bath or washtub.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a tub.^[2][8][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes puns on it as tub and skiff.^[2][8][12]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a skiff.^[2][8][12]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch tells of the trough in which Romulus and Remus were exposed.^[8][2][12]
• 1540s – English “call a spade a spade” translates the Greek proverb.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek σκάφη (skáfi), a washtub.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trough, tub, basin or bowl; a kneading trough; a bath or washtub.^[2][8]
2. A tray on which offerings were carried at the Panathenaea.^[2]
3. A child's cradle.^[2]
4. A light boat, skiff.^[2][8][6]
5. A trough used in a Persian method of execution.^[8]
6. A concave sundial.^[2]

Word family

• σκαφίς (skaphís)

Related words

• σκάπτω (skáptō)
• σκάφος (skáphos)
• Latin scapha
• English scaphoid

Usage notes

The proverb about figs and the trough, recorded by Plutarch, Lucian and Apostolius, meant to call things by their plain names.^[2][9]

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 p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge