σχέδιος

Forms

σχέδῐος (skhédios) m (feminine σχεδίᾱ, neuter σχέδῐον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

From σχεδόν (skhedón, “near”) with the adjectival suffix -ιος (-ios).^[1][2][3] The adverb is formed from the aorist stem of ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold, have”) (σχεῖν (skheîn)) with the suffix -δον (-don), properly “holding on to, adjoining”; it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has only the adverb σχεδίην, “at close quarters”, in the Iliad (Athena urges Diomedes to strike Ares from close at hand).^[4][2] The adjective is first found in Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, of swords for close combat.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is one of place, “near, used at close quarters”: Aeschylus' swords, a spear in Aristotle, a hand-to-hand battle in an epigram from Pergamon.^[6][5] Pollux has it of gentle, slow riding.^[6]

In later Greek the sense moved to time: “casual, temporary” of causes and pains in the physician Aretaeus, and “on the spur of the moment, off-hand” of a speech in Dionysius of Halicarnassus or a drink in the Palatine Anthology.^[6][8] The verb σχεδιάζω (skhediázō) “to improvise” and αὐτοσχέδιος (autoskhédios) “improvised” belong to the same development.^[2][9] Latin borrowed the adjective and its neuter as Latin schedius and Latin schedium.^[2]

The neuter σχέδιον (skhédion), at first an improvised speech, came to mean a rough draft or outline in medieval Greek;^[9] this sense probably came through the Latin loan.^[9] The learned Modern Greek σχέδιο (schédio) is a drawing, a design or a plan, with senses taken from Italian schizzo, French dessin and plan and English design.^[10][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the adverb σχεδίην, “at close quarters”.^[4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the adjective of swords for close combat.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it of an off-hand, improvised speech.^[6]
• 2nd century AD – Aretaeus uses it of temporary causes and pains.^[6]
• 9th century AD – Photius uses the neuter σχέδιον for a rough draft or outline.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned σχέδιο (schédio) means a drawing, design or plan.^[10][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. near, used at close quarters (of weapons and fighting).^[6][5]
2. Gentle, slow (of riding).^[6]
3. temporary, casual.^[6][8]
4. improvised, off-hand; ἐπὶ σχεδίου “off-hand”.^[6][11]

Word family

• σχεδιάζω (skhediázō)
• αὐτοσχέδιος (autoskhédios)

Related words

• σχεδόν (skhedón)
• σχεδία (skhedíā)
• ἔχω (ékhō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b c d e f Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli