σπόγγος

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /spóŋ.ɡos/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈspoŋ.ɡos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈspoŋ.ɡos/^[1]

Forms

σπόγγος (spóngos) m (genitive σπόγγου, diminutive σπογγῐ́ον); second declension^[1] Variant σφόγγος (inscription from Delos, 4th century BC; papyri).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a substrate loanword, from Pre-Greek, shared with Latin fungus (“mushroom”) and Old Armenian սունկն (sunkn, “tree mushroom”).^[1][4] Beekes calls it an old Wanderwort, identical with the Armenian and Latin words.^[4] Babiniotis likewise takes the three as parallel borrowings from a language of the Mediterranean substrate.^[5]

The variant σφόγγος (sphóngos), with an aspirate, is found on Delos in the 4th century BC and in papyri.^[3][2] The grammarian Herodian derived σπόγγος from σπάω (spáō, “to draw”), because it draws up water, and σφόγγος from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to squeeze”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a sponge for wiping: in the Iliad one wipes the face and both hands with it, and in the Odyssey it is used to wipe tables.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Classical writers use it for sponges at the bath and for cleaning shoes, and Aeschylus speaks of a wet sponge wiping out a picture.^[2] The Hippocratic writers extend it to spongy substances and to the tonsils and glands of the throat, which swell like sponges.^[2][3] In the New Testament the sponge soaked in vinegar is held up to Jesus on the cross.^[8][2]

The derivative σπογγιά (spongiā́) was borrowed as Latin spongia.^[4] Medieval Greek kept σπόγγος, and the form σφούγγος lives on in modern dialects.^[9] Today Modern Greek σπόγγος (spóngos) is a learned word, beside σφουγγάρι.^[10][5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a sponge for wiping.^[2][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the image of a sponge wiping out a picture.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it of spongy glands in the throat.^[2][12]
• 4th century BC – The form σφόγγος appears in an inscription from Delos.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels tell of the sponge filled with vinegar.^[8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek σπόγγος (spóngos) survives as a learned word.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sponge, for washing, wiping and cleaning.^[2][11]
2. (medicine) Any spongy substance; in the plural, the glands of the throat, the tonsils.^[2]
3. The oleander, the same as νήριον (nḗrion).^[2][3]

Word family

• σπογγίον (spongíon)
• ξυλόσπογγος (xulóspongos)
• σπογγιά (spongiā́)

Related words

• Latin spongia
• Latin fungus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
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 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
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge