τέμενος

Forms

τέμενος (témenos) n (genitive τεμένους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *témenos,^[1] formed with the suffix -νος (-nos) on the two-syllable root Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”), the root of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).^[2][1] The link is old and both formally and semantically sound: Homer says the Lycians “cut a τέμενος” for Bellerophon, and Hesychius defines it as any place set apart for someone as an honour.^[2][3] The suffix is the same as in κτῆνος (ktênos) and ἔρνος (érnos).^[2][3]

Manessy-Guitton, followed by others, doubted the suffix and proposed an Oriental origin, from Akkadian temennu (“foundation charter”), so that the link with the verb would be a folk etymology;^[2][3] Beekes thinks this not very probable.^[2] It is already found in Mycenaean Greek te-me-no.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Pylos tablet records the te-me-no of the lawagetas, a plot of land assigned to him.^[4][2] In Homer it is a piece of land cut off and given to a king or chief as his domain, and also land dedicated to a god, with an altar.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The sacred sense prevailed: in Herodotus a temple or shrine stands inside the τέμενος, and Herodotus also speaks of the tomb of Protesilaus with a precinct around it.^[5] Pindar extends it to any place belonging to a god: the Pythian racecourse, Syracuse as the domain of Ares, the valley of the Nile.^[5][6] In Aristophanes the Acropolis is Athena's holy precinct, and Aeschylus speaks of the “precinct of the sky”.^[5] Aristotle still lists such estates among the marks of honour.^[5]

Derivatives include τεμένιος (teménios, “belonging to a precinct”) and the verb τεμενίζω (temenízō, “to dedicate a precinct”), used by Plato;^[2] Thucydides has προτεμένισμα (protemenisma), the outer court of a temple.^[2][3]

Modern Greek τέμενος (témenos) is a learned word: the sacred precinct of an ancient god or hero, a mosque, and, after French temple, an institution devoted to learning or the arts.^[7][8]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – A Pylos tablet records the te-me-no of the lawagetas.^[4]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a royal estate and of a god's precinct with an altar.^[5][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls the Pythian racecourse and Syracuse a god's precinct.^[5][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes temples standing within precincts.^[5][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle counts such estates among the marks of honour.^[5][10]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τέμενος (témenos) is a learned word for a sanctuary, also for a mosque.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of land marked off and given to a king or chief, a royal domain or estate.^[5][6]
2. Land set apart for a god or hero, often with a temple or shrine in it; a sacred precinct.^[5][6]
3. (poetic) The domain of a god in general, said of a city, a region, a racecourse or the sky.^[5][6]

Related words

• τέμνω (témnō)

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 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. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge