σκήπτω

Forms

σκήπτω (skḗptō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a denominative verb from Ancient Greek σκᾶπος (skâpos, “branch, stick”), since every word of the family has a long ā in the root (Attic-Ionic η); the verb, its aorist and the noun stand to each other as κόπτω (kóptō), its aorist and κόπος (kópos) do.^[2][3][4]

The noun matches Latin scāpus (“shaft, stalk”) and Albanian shkop (“stick, sceptre”), which point to Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂p-o-.^[3] Wiktionary gives the root as *skeh₂p- (“to prop”) and adds Old Church Slavonic копиѥ (kopije, “spear”) to the cognates.^[1] The Germanic words for a shaft or spear, Old High German skaft and Old Norse skapt, may have the zero grade *skh₂p-.^[3][2] Although the forms could be Indo-European, Beekes thinks their distribution and meanings point rather to a word of a European substrate, a possibility Wiktionary also mentions.^[3][1] Chantraine notes that the Latin word may itself be borrowed from Greek, and that the meaning speaks against a link with σκάπτω (skáptō, “to dig”) but suggests one with σκίπων (skípōn, “staff”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer only the middle is found, meaning “to lean on” something: in the Iliad a wounded man props himself on a spear, and in the Odyssey the disguised Odysseus leans on a staff like an old beggar.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine traces every use of the verb to the idea of leaning or pressing on something.^[2] From leaning on a staff the middle came to mean relying on a person, for example on a witness in Demosthenes, and then putting something forward in one's support: alleging an excuse, in Herodotus, Thucydides and Plato, and pretending, as in Aristophanes' “I will pretend to be a merchant” and in Polybius' feigned illness.^[5][6]

The active, which is mostly poetic, meant “to let fall, hurl down” a missile or an avenging spirit, and intransitively “to fall, swoop down” like a lightning bolt.^[5][6][3] Aeschylus uses it for a beacon light flashing across the land, and Sophocles for a plague falling on Thebes.^[5] From this sense comes σκηπτός (skēptós), a thunderbolt or sudden storm.^[3] An Attic inscription uses the passive of triremes struck by a storm.^[5][2] The compound ἐπισκήπτω (episkḗptō) became “to enjoin”, and in the middle an Attic legal term for lodging a complaint.^[3][2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the middle for leaning on a spear or a staff.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the active for hurling down a missile and for a beacon light shooting across the land.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of a plague swooping on a city, and Euripides of a god sending down an avenging spirit.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the middle for alleging something as a pretext.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the middle with an infinitive for pretending to be someone.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for relying on a witness.^[5][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for pretending illness.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (middle and passive) To lean or prop oneself on a staff or spear.^[5][6]
2. (middle, figurative) To rely or depend on a person or thing.^[5][6]
3. To put forward as an excuse, allege, plead; mostly in the middle.^[5][6]
4. (middle) To pretend or feign; with an infinitive, to pretend to be.^[5][6]
5. (active) To hurl or send down a missile, an avenging spirit or anger against someone.^[5][6]
6. (active, intransitive) To fall or swoop down, like a lightning bolt.^[5][6]
7. (passive) To be struck, of ships caught by a storm.^[5][2]

Word family

• ἀποσκήπτω (aposkḗptō)
• ἐνσκήπτω (enskḗptō)
• ἐπισκήπτω (episkḗptō)
• ἐπίσκηψις (epískēpsis)
• κατασκήπτω (kataskḗptō)
• σκᾶπτον (skâpton)
• σκηπάνιον (skēpánion)
• σκηπτός (skēptós)
• σκηπτοῦχος (skēptoûkhos)
• σκῆπτρον (skêptron)
• σκῆψις (skêpsis)
• σκᾶπος (skâpos)
• σκηπάνη (skēpánē)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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