Etymologically
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σπάθη

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /spá.tʰɛː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈspa.θi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈspa.θi/[1]

Forms

σπᾰ́θη (spáthē) f (genitive σπᾰ́θης); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *spátʰā.[1] Beekes and Frisk relate it to Proto-Germanic *spadô (“spade”), seen in Old Saxon spado, Old English spadu and German Spaten;[2][3] Beekes sets up a root Proto-Indo-European *sph₂-, with a suffix *-dʰ(h₁)- in Greek and Germanic.[2][3][4] Wiktionary analyses it, with a query, as *sph₂-dʰh₁-éh₂, from *(s)peh₂- (“to draw”) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).[1] The root is perhaps the same as in σπάω (spáō, “to draw”), which Frisk thinks likely.[2][3] Wiktionary also compares Hittite išpatar (“spear”), but Frisk prefers to keep it apart.[1][3]

It was borrowed into Latin as spatha.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alcaeus, in the 7th–6th century BC, speaks of Chalcidian blades, the broad blades of swords.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is any broad, flat blade of wood or metal.[6][2] In Aeschylus and Plato it is the weaver's batten, the flat wooden blade used on the upright loom to beat the threads of the weft together.[6][7] It is also a spatula for stirring, in Alexis and in medicine; the blade of an oar, in Lycophron; broad ribs, in the medical writers; a scraper for horses, in a 3rd-century BC papyrus; and the flukes of an anchor.[6] Herodotus uses it for the stem of a palm frond, and Theophrastus for the spathe of the palm flower.[6][7]

As a sword it is found in Euripides, Philemon and Menander use it of a sword, Menander pairing cloak and sword.[6][7] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a sword.[8] Modern Greek has σπάθη as a learned word for a sword or sabre, used also in fencing, beside the everyday Modern Greek σπαθί (spathí).[9]

Timeline

  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it for the blades of swords.[6][7][10]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a weaver's batten.[6][11][10]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the stem of a palm frond.[6][7][10]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Menander uses it for a sword.[6][7][10]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the spathe of palms.[6][10]
  • 3rd century BC – A papyrus uses it for a scraper for horses.[6]
  • 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a medical spatula.[6][10]
  • Medieval Greek – It means a sword.[8]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for a sword.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any broad, flat blade of wood or metal.[6]
  2. The weaver's batten, used on the upright loom.[6][7]
  3. A spatula for stirring, especially in medicine.[6]
  4. The blade of an oar.[6]
  5. In the plural, broad ribs.[6]
  6. The broad blade of a sword; a sword.[6][7]
  7. A scraper for grooming horses.[6]
  8. (botany) The stem of a palm frond; the spathe of a flower, especially of palms.[6][7]
  9. In the plural, the flukes of an anchor.[6]

Word family

  • σπαθάω (spatháō)
  • σπαθηφόρος (spathēphóros)
  • σπαθίς (spathís)
  • σπάω (spáō)
  • Latin spatha
  • English spade

References

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