σπινθήρ

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /spin.tʰɛ̌ːr/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /spinˈθir/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /spinˈθir/^[1]

Forms

σπῐνθήρ (spinthḗr) m (genitive σπῐνθῆρος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek.^[2] Its suffix is that of ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”) and αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “ether”), and the related forms σπίνθραξ (spínthrax) and σπινθαρίδες (spintharídes) are built like ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “charcoal”) and ἐσχάρα (eskhára, “hearth”).^[2]

The word has long been compared with Lithuanian spindėti (“to gleam”), but an Indo-European root with /i/ and an aspirate cannot be set up, and Beekes judges the connection formally impossible.^[2][3][4] Chantraine does not exclude a link with Latin scintilla (“spark”), since words of this meaning are often altered, and Niedermann took both as borrowings from a Mediterranean language.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it once, in the Iliad, of the many sparks that fly from a meteor sent by Zeus.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Aristophanes it is a spark of fire, and in the Peace Pericles throws the spark of the Megarian decree and fans it into war, and Polybius uses the same image for the cause of a war.^[5][6] Aristotle uses it in his physics, and the Septuagint and a Hellenistic epigram speak of eyes that flash sparks.^[5][7] Theophrastus and Plutarch have the verb σπινθηρίζω (spinthērízō, “to give off sparks”).^[2]

Medieval Greek used it for a spark and, figuratively, for the smallest beginning of something.^[8] Today it survives as the learned Modern Greek σπινθήρας (spinthíras), which in one sense copies English spark or French étincelle; the everyday word σπίθα (spítha) is a back-formation from the medieval verb σπιθίζω (spithízo), made from the stem σπινθ-.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the sparks from a meteor.^[5][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it literally and of the Megarian decree that sparked the war.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it in the Physics and On the Heavens.^[5][7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius calls a pretext the spark from which a war blazed up.^[5][6]
• Medieval Greek – Writers use it of sparks and of the smallest beginning of something.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned Modern Greek σπινθήρας (spinthíras), beside the everyday Modern Greek σπίθα (spítha).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spark of fire, or from a meteor.^[5][6]
2. (figurative) A spark that sets off a conflict, a flashpoint.^[6][5]

Usage notes

Related to it is the bird name σπινθαρίς (spintharís), which matches Latin spinturnīx.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 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
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
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