στοιχεῖον

Forms

στοιχεῖον (stoikheîon) n (genitive στοιχείου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek στοῖχος (stoîkhos, “row, line”) + -εῖον (-eîon),^[1][2] properly one member of a row or series.^[2] στοῖχος is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *stóikʰos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *stóygʰ-os, an o-grade noun from *steygʰ- (“to go, climb”), the root of στείχω (steíkhō, “to walk, march”).^[1][3]

The o-grade noun matches Albanian shteg (“footpath”) and Latvian staĩga (“course”).^[3][1] The verb στείχω has exact cognates in Germanic and Celtic verbs meaning “to go up” and “to go”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first secure use, in Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae, it is the shadow of the pointer of a sundial, whose length in feet told the time of day, in the phrase ὅταν ᾖ δεκάπουν τὸ στοιχεῖον, “when the shadow is ten feet long”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From “one member of a series” it came to mean an element.^[2][5] Plato uses it for the simple sounds of speech and the letters that write them, and, according to Eudemus, was the first to call the components of matter στοιχεῖα;^[5] Empedocles had named his four elements ῥιζώματα, “roots”.^[5][2] Aristotle applies it to the first premises of reasoning and to the basic propositions of geometry, and Στοιχεῖα became the title of geometrical works, the Elements.^[5][2] Xenophon and Isocrates use it generally of first principles.^[5][2]

In Hellenistic Greek the elements of the world were the heavenly bodies, especially the planets and the signs of the zodiac; the Second Epistle of Peter says the elements will be dissolved by fire, and Paul's “elements of the world” may refer to them.^[5][6] From the astrological sense came medieval στοιχείον “demon”, whence Modern Greek στοιχειό (stoicheió) “the spirit that haunts a place”.^[7][8] The modern στοιχείο (stoicheío) “element, component, letter” is a learned word that also took meanings from French élément and principe.^[7] The English word stoichiometry goes back to German Stöchiometrie, coined from it in 1792.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for the shadow of a sundial.^[5][2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the sounds of speech, for letters and for the elements of matter.^[5][2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon and Isocrates use it for first principles.^[5][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the elements of proof and of geometry.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of the elements of the world, perhaps the heavenly bodies.^[5][6]
• Medieval Greek – στοιχείον comes to mean a demon or haunting spirit.^[7][8]
• 1792 – German Stöchiometrie is coined from it, the source of English stoichiometry (1807).^[9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek στοιχείο (stoicheío) “element” and στοιχειό (stoicheió) “haunting spirit” exist side by side.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shadow of the pointer of a sundial, whose length showed the time of day.^[5][2]
2. A simple sound of speech; a letter of the alphabet.^[5][2]
3. (philosophy) An element, one of the components into which matter can be divided.^[5][2]
4. (logic, geometry) A first premise or basic proposition on which others depend; in the plural, the title of geometrical works.^[5][2]
5. An elementary or fundamental principle.^[5][2]
6. (Hellenistic) A heavenly body, especially a planet or a sign of the zodiac.^[5][6]

Word family

• στοιχειώδης (stoikheiṓdēs)
• στοιχειακός (stoikheiakós)
• στοιχειολάτρης (stoikheiolátrēs)
• στοιχειόω (stoikheióō)
• στοιχείωμα (stoikheíōma)
• στοιχείωσις (stoikheíōsis)
• στοιχειωτής (stoikheiōtḗs)
• στοιχειωτικός (stoikheiōtikós)

Related words

• στοῖχος (stoîkhos)
• στείχω (steíkhō)
• στίχος (stíkhos)
• English stoichiometry

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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 k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge