τένων

Forms

τένων (ténōn) m (genitive τένοντος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), a primary derivative that keeps the full grade of the root, which also gives τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”).^[2][3][1] Beekes follows Strunk in this analysis.^[2] Wiktionary compares the Slavic words for a bowstring, Proto-Slavic *tętiva.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it, nearly always in the dual or plural, for the tendons of the ankle, the arm and the neck.^[4][5] In the Iliad a stone crushes both tendons of a warrior's ankle, and Achilles pierces Hector's tendons behind the feet to drag him behind his chariot.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod and the tragedians kept the Homeric use, and in tragedy the word can stand for the foot itself.^[5][6] The Hippocratic treatises name the tendon at the back of the heel, the Achilles tendon, and Galen defines the τένων as one kind of νεῦρον (neûron), the general term for sinews and nerves.^[5] A late epigram uses it figuratively for a mountain ridge of the Caucasus.^[5]

The word was borrowed as Late Latin tenon, which Medieval Latin altered under the influence of tendō (“to stretch”); this is the source of the English word tendon, recorded from the 1540s.^[7] Modern Greek uses it as a learned word, Modern Greek τένοντας (ténontas).^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of tendons of the ankle, arm and neck.^[4][9]
• Before the 6th century BC – The Hesiodic Shield uses it in the dual.^[5][9]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus and Euripides use it of the foot; the Hippocratic corpus names the Achilles tendon.^[5][6]
• 2nd century AD – Galen classes it as a kind of νεῦρον (neûron).^[5]
• 1540s – English borrows tendon through Medieval Latin.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It is used as the learned word Modern Greek τένοντας (ténontas).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tendon or sinew, in various parts of the body; especially the Achilles tendon.^[5][6]
2. (poetic) The foot.^[5]
3. (figurative) A mountain ridge.^[5]

Related words

• τείνω (teínō)
• τόνος (tónos)
• English tendon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux