Etymologically
Log in

στατήρ

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 02:15. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /sta.tɛ̌ːr/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /staˈtir/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /staˈtir/[1]

Forms

στᾰτήρ (statḗr) m (genitive στᾰτῆρος); third declension[1] Aeolic has the accent στάτηρ (státēr).[2] The Linear B word ta-te-re has been read, with doubt, as its plural.[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi) + -τήρ (-tḗr), an agent noun from that verb in its sense “to put on the scales, weigh out”, so that it first meant “the weigher”.[5][6][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).[5] Similar but independent agent nouns from the same root are Latin Stator, an epithet of Jupiter, which has the o-grade of the suffix, and a Sanskrit word for the driver of a chariot.[5][4]

Latin borrowed it as statēr,[5] and Saalfeld also derives statēra (“steelyard”) from it.[7] The Etymologicum Magnum, too, derives it from that verb.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The lyric poets Alcaeus (7th–6th century BC) and Hipponax (6th century BC) already use it for a coin.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

As a weight it was equal to a λίτρα (lítra) in Eupolis, and the Hippocratic writings measure with an Aeginetan stater.[10] As a coin it named many standard coins, mostly of high value and not Athenian, that were accepted at Athens and elsewhere: gold coins such as the Persian Daric in Herodotus and Thucydides, electrum coins of Cyzicus and Phocaea, and silver coins of Aegina, Corcyra and Corinth.[2][10] Photius and the Suda record that the name was later given to the Attic four-drachma piece.[10] Epicharmus calls debtors στατῆρες, opposed to those who pay back;[10][4] Frisk explains them as “those who weigh out (money) for themselves”.[6]

In the New Testament it is a silver coin worth four drachmas, about four days' wages.[11] The learned Modern Greek στατήρας (statíras) is a learned revival of the ancient word, one of its senses modelled on French statère.[12]

Timeline

  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it for a coin.[2][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides name the Persian gold stater, the Daric.[10][9]
  • 5th century BC – Eupolis uses it for a weight.[10][9]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew names it as a silver coin of four drachmas.[11][13]
  • Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek στατήρας (statíras) revives it.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A weight, equal to a λίτρα (lítra).[10]
  2. A standard coin, the stater, struck in gold, electrum or silver to various standards: the Persian Daric, the staters of Cyzicus and Phocaea, the silver staters of Aegina and Corinth.[10][2]
  3. (New Testament) A silver coin worth four drachmas (drakhmḗ).[11]
  4. (in the plural, Epicharmus) Debtors.[10][4]

Word family

  • στατηριαῖος (statēriaîos)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  3. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
  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 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  8. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  10. ^ 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
  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. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux