Etymologically
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στέφω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /sté.pʰɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈste.ɸo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈste.fo/[1]

Forms

στέφω (stéphō) [1] Future στέψω, aorist ἔστεψα; passive aorist ἐστέφθην, perfect ἔστεμμαι, with the Ionic perfect participle ἐστεθμένος at Miletus in the 6th century BC.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *stékʷʰō,[1] a root present with the e-grade that has no exact match outside Greek.[4] Following Lidén, who compared Iranian and Armenian words for “crown, diadem”, the LIV (with a query) and Wiktionary trace it to Proto-Indo-European *stegʷʰ- (“to crown, encircle”).[5][6][1] The LIV notes that the Iranian words might instead belong to *(s)teg- (“to cover”).[6]

Frisk and Chantraine, taking “to enclose tightly” as the first sense, compared a Sanskrit verb meaning “to make firm, prop up”.[7][4] Beekes rejects this, because the Sanskrit verb reflects *stm̥bh-, and also rejects a link with Germanic words for “staff”, whose meaning hardly fits.[5] Aristotle, arguing from Homer, held that the verb meant a kind of filling.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad a golden cloud is set round a hero's head like a crown: ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ κεφαλῇ νέφος ἔστεφε δῖα θεάων χρύσεον, “and round his head the noble goddess set a golden cloud”.[2][3] In the Odyssey a god sets beauty round a man's words.[3]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it of crowning a person with flowers, and the tragedians of crowning the head with myrtle or ivy.[2][3] Sophocles has it for honouring a dead man or a tomb with libations,[2] Plato for wreathing the stern of a ship, and comedy for wreathing a cup with leaves.[2] In prose στεφανόω (stephanóō) is the usual verb.[5][2] Its derivatives include στέφος (stéphos), “wreath, garland”, and στέμμα (stémma), the woollen fillet of suppliants.[7]

It survives as the learned Modern Greek στέφω (stéfo): its sense of putting on a crown goes back to the ancient verb, with today's meaning from medieval Greek, and another sense is modelled on French couronner.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of a cloud set round a hero's head.[2][9]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of crowning with flowers.[2][10]
  • 6th century BC – An inscription from Miletus has the perfect participle of wreathed cups.[2]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of honouring the dead with libations.[2][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of wreathing the stern of a ship.[2][10]
  • Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek στέφω (stéfo) keeps the sense “to crown”.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put round as a garland: to set something in a circle about a head or an object.[3][2]
  2. To encircle, crown or wreathe a person, head or thing with leaves, flowers or wool.[2][3]
  3. To wreathe a bowl or cup with leaves.[2]
  4. To honour a dead person or a tomb with libations.[2]

Word family

  • ἀναστέφω (anastéphō)
  • διστεφής (distephḗs)
  • ἐκστέφω (ekstéphō)
  • καταστεφής (katastephḗs)
  • καταστέφω (katastéphō)
  • λευκοστεφής (leukostephḗs)
  • περιστεφής (peristephḗs)
  • περιστέφω (peristéphō)
  • πολυστεφής (polustephḗs)
  • στέμμα (stémma)
  • στεφάνη (stephánē)
  • στέφανος (stéphanos)
  • στέφος (stéphos)
  • ἀστεφής (astephḗs)
  • στεφανόω (stephanóō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  7. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge