τάσσω

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /tás.sɔː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈtas.so/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈtas.so/^[1]

Forms

τᾰ́σσω (tássō) ^[1]

Etymology

It may be inherited, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to order, establish”).^[1][2] Frisk calls it a regular system of forms with an unknown prehistory.^[3] The /g/ of ταγή (tagḗ) shows that the present τάσσω, Attic τάττω (táttō), replaced an older *τάζω (*tázō).^[2][4]

Outside Greek it has been compared with the Parthian title tgmdr, read as “giver of orders”, Old Persian ham-ataxšatā (“they put in order”) and Tocharian B tāś (“commander”), and, less surely, Lithuanian patogùs (“convenient”).^[2][5] Beekes reconstructs a root *teh₂g-, which would explain the Old Persian form, in place of the LIV's awkward *tag-.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is post-Homeric.^[2] Its first recorded uses are in Pindar and Aeschylus.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Its central sense is military: a commander draws up an army or a fleet in order (Aeschylus, Herodotus, Euripides, Thucydides), and the passive is to be drawn up for battle.^[8] From there it meant to post or station someone, to appoint or assign, and to arrange or put in order in general.^[1][2]

It is very often used with prefixes (διατάσσω (diatássō), συντάσσω (suntássō)...), and its nouns τάξις (táxis) “order, arrangement” and τάγμα (tágma) and its adjective τακτικός (taktikós) “of drawing up troops, tactical” (Xenophon) were formed from it.^[2] Modern Greek τάσσω is a learned word.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it.^[6][7][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for drawing up troops.^[8][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses the adjective τακτικός.^[2][10]
• Modern Greek – τάσσω survives as a learned word.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw up (troops), array, marshal;^[8] (passive) to be drawn up.^[8][1]
2. To post, station.^[1][2]
3. To appoint, assign.^[1]
4. To arrange, put in order; to establish.^[1][2]

Word family

• ἀντιτάσσω (antitássō)
• ἀποτάσσω (apotássō)
• διατάσσω (diatássō)
• ἐκτάσσω (ektássō)
• ἐπιτάσσω (epitássō)
• μετατάσσω (metatássō)
• παρατάσσω (paratássō)
• προστάσσω (prostássō)
• προτάσσω (protássō)
• συντάσσω (suntássō)
• τάγμα (tágma)
• τακτικός (taktikós)
• τάξις (táxis)
• ὑποτάσσω (hupotássō)

Related words

• ταγός (tāgós)

References

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