Etymologically
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σπείρω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /spěː.rɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈspi.ro/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈspi.ro/[1]

Forms

σπείρω (speírō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *spéřřō,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *spéryeti, from *sper- (“to strew, scatter”).[1][2][3] Grammarians record an Aeolic σπέρρω (spérrhō).[4][5]

The only secure cognate is Hittite išpāri (“spreads out, strews”).[2][1] The Armenian verb Old Armenian սփռեմ (spʻṙem, “to spread out”) was often compared, but Beekes and the LIV doubt it on formal grounds.[2][3] Chantraine notes that Greek ignores the common Indo-European root for sowing, found in Latin sēmen (“seed”), and uses one whose first sense must have been “to scatter”.[4]

Ancient writers derived it from σπάω (spáō, “to pull”), because the seed's root pulls it downward.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Hesiod's Works and Days it is to sow, used without an object; in the Shield men sow millet.[5][7][8] The noun σπέρμα (spérma) “seed” is already in the Odyssey and in Mycenaean as Mycenaean Greek pe-mo.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus one sows grain and fields, and the sowing is set against the reaping in Aristophanes;[5][8] Plato speaks of reaping the fruit of what one has sown.[5][8] From sowing a field the tragedians went to begetting a child, the father “sowing” a mother's furrow, and Plato used it of the soul.[8][5] It also meant to scatter or spread abroad, a sense found especially in compounds such as διασπείρω (diaspeírō).[2][4]

In the New Testament it is the verb of “the sower” in Matthew 13.[9] The Medieval and Modern Greek form σπέρνω (spérno) remodels it on verbs in -νω.[10][11]

Timeline

  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of sowing seed.[5][12]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of sowing grain and fields.[8][12]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of begetting children.[8][5][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of reaping what one has sown.[5][12]
  • New Testament – Matthew, Mark and Luke use it of the sower.[9]
  • Medieval Greek – The form σπέρνω appears beside σπείρω.[11]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek σπέρνω (spérno) continues it.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sow seed; to sow a crop or a field; proverbially, to sow on rocks, of useless work.[8][5]
  2. To beget children.[8][5]
  3. To scatter, spread abroad, disperse.[2][4]
  4. (figurative) To sow words or desire.[8]

Word family

  • σπέρμα (spérma)
  • σπόρος (spóros)
  • σπορά (sporā́)
  • σποράς (sporás)
  • διασπορά (diasporā́)
  • English sperm
  • English spore
  • English diaspora

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge