σφενδόνη

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /spʰen.dó.nɛː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /sɸenˈdo.ni/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /sfenˈdo.ni/^[1]

Forms

σφενδόνη (sphendónē) f (genitive σφενδόνης); first declension^[1] Dialect form σφενδόνα (sphendónā).^[2]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, citing its structure and the suffix ⟨-ον-⟩.^[3][4] It is formed like ἀγχόνη (ankhónē), περόνη (perónē) and βελόνη (belónē), but has no convincing etymology.^[3][5]

Since Benfey and Pott it has been linked within Greek to σφεδανός (sphedanós), σφοδρός (sphodrós) and σφαδᾴζω (sphadáizō), and outside it to Sanskrit स्पन्दते (spandate, “to quiver, kick”), from Proto-Indo-European *sp(h)e(n)d-.^[5][1] Its likeness to Latin funda (“sling”) rather suggests that both were borrowed from a Mediterranean or Anatolian source, which Beekes takes to be Pre-Greek.^[3][4][1] Babiniotis also thinks it probably a loan parallel to the Latin word, and finds the Indo-European connections unconvincing.^[6] Saalfeld, with doubt, derives the Latin word from the Greek one.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad a sling serves as an improvised bandage.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

From Archilochus on it is the sling for hurling stones, in Euripides, Thucydides, Aristophanes and Xenophon;^[8][2] Xenophon also uses it for the sling-stone, and Aristophanes for hailstones.^[8][2] A Delphic inscription uses it for the sling of a crane that unloaded ships, and Aeschylus perhaps uses it figuratively in that sense.^[8][2]

Other things of the same shape took the name: a sling for an injured arm and an abdominal bandage in the Hippocratic writings, a women's headband and the white of the eye in Pollux,^[8] and the hoop of a ring that holds the stone, in Euripides, Plato and Aristotle.^[8][2] The slinger was a σφενδονήτης (sphendonḗtēs), and the verb σφενδονάω (sphendonáō) meant “to sling”.^[3]

It survives as the learned Modern Greek σφενδόνη (sfendóni), one of its senses from medieval Greek.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses a sling as a bandage.^[8][2]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for the sling.^[8][10]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the hoop of a signet ring.^[8][2][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for the stone that a sling throws.^[8][2][10]
• 4th century BC – A Delphic inscription uses it for a crane's sling.^[8]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux records it for a women's headband and the white of the eye.^[8][10]
• Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek σφενδόνη (sfendóni) continues it.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sling for hurling stones.^[8][2]
2. A sling-stone or bullet; figuratively, of hailstones.^[8][2]
3. The sling of a crane used for loading and unloading ships.^[8][2]
4. Anything shaped like a sling: an arm sling, an abdominal bandage, a women's headband.^[8]
5. The hoop of a ring that holds the stone, the bezel or collet; a seal.^[8][2]
6. The white of the eye.^[8]

Word family

• σφενδονάω (sphendonáō)
• σφενδόνησις (sphendónēsis)
• σφενδονήτης (sphendonḗtēs)
• σφενδονητικός (sphendonētikós)
• βελοσφενδόνη (belosphendónē)
• κεστροσφενδόνη (kestrosphendónē)
• σφενδονοειδής (sphendonoeidḗs)

Related words

• Latin funda

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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge