σπέρμα

Forms

σπέρμᾰ (spérma) n (genitive σπέρμᾰτος); third declension^[1] Mycenaean pe-mo, also pe-ma, in the Knossos and Pylos tablets.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *spérmə, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *spérmn̥, formed from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to strew”) with the suffix *-mn̥; within Greek it is felt as a noun of σπείρω (speírō, “to sow”).^[1][4][5] Mycenaean already has it as Mycenaean Greek pe-mo and Mycenaean Greek pe-ma “seed”.^[3][2][6]

Beekes finds the only cognate of the root in Hittite išpār- (“to spread out, strew”).^[3] Chantraine and Frisk point out that Greek alone uses *sper- for sowing: the other western languages use the root of Latin sēmen, which Greek lacks.^[7][8] Frisk takes “strew” to be the older sense.^[8] Chrysippus derived the word from the coiling up of a large mass in a small space.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets of Knossos and Pylos record seed grain as Mycenaean Greek pe-mo.^[2][6] Homer has the word once, figuratively: Odysseus hides himself in leaves as one buries an ember to save the “seed of fire”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From Hesiod on it is the seed of plants, and also the sowing.^[4][5] Pindar, Aeschylus and Herodotus use it of the generative seed of gods and men, and the poets of lineage and offspring, sometimes of a single child.^[5][4] The same polysemy of “seed” and “descendant” is recorded in other languages.^[10] Philosophers used it figuratively: for Anaxagoras the “seeds” are the elements of things.^[4]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is seed and, very often, the descendants of Abraham.^[11][4] Coptic borrowed it, from about AD 300.^[12] Medieval Greek kept the word, and Modern Greek σπέρμα (spérma) continues it in the botanical sense, for both seed and semen.^[13][14]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The Linear B tablets record seed grain as Mycenaean Greek pe-mo.^[2][6]
• Homer – The Odyssey speaks of the “seed of fire”.^[4][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of the seed of plants and of the sowing time.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of the seed of a god.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Anaxagoras calls the elements of things “seeds”.^[4][15]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of the offspring of Abraham.^[4][11]
• Modern Greek – σπέρμα (spérma) means seed and semen.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The seed of plants; seed grain.^[4][5]
2. Sowing, seed-time.^[4][5]
3. (figurative) The germ or origin of something: the seed of fire, of salvation, of trouble, and (philosophy) the elements of things.^[4][5]
4. The generative seed of animals and humans, semen.^[4][5]
5. Race, lineage, descent.^[4][5]
6. Offspring, descendants; a child.^[4][5][11]

Word family

• σπερμαίνω (spermaínō)
• σπερμολόγος (spermológos)
• λιθόσπερμον (lithóspermon)
• λινόσπερμον (linóspermon)
• σπερματικός (spermatikós)
• σπερματοῦχος (spermatoûkhos)
• σπερματοφάγος (spermatophágos)

Related words

• σπείρω (speírō)
• σπορά (sporá)
• σπόρος (spóros)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
3. ^ a b c 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
10. ^ Zalizniak, Anna A., et al. (2024), Database of Semantic Shifts (DatSemShift), Moscow: Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, https://datsemshift.ru
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge