τέρσομαι

Forms

τέρσομαι (térsomai) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to become dry, thirst”),^[2][3] an old thematic present with the e-grade, a grade that has no certain trace outside Greek.^[4][3] Its aorist “to get dry” is a fientive formation.^[3] The cluster -ρσ- was kept between vowels.^[2]

The zero grade appears in Sanskrit तृष्यति (tṛ́ṣyati, “is thirsty”) and in a Gothic verb meaning “to thirst”, and a causative in Latin torreō (“to parch”) and Old High German derren (“to dry out”).^[2][4][1] Nouns of the same root are German Durst (“thirst”) and English thirst, and perhaps Latin terra (“earth”).^[4][1] Greek nouns of the root are ταρσός (tarsós) and τρασιά (trasiá).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer a wound dries up and its blood is staunched, ground is baked by the sun, clothes wait to dry in the sunlight, and Odysseus' eyes are never dry of tears.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb stayed rare: the Hippocratic writers use it of cloths drying in the sun, and the Hellenistic poets revived it, with an active τέρσαι “to dry” in Theocritus and Nicander and a new present τερσαίνω (tersaínō).^[5][2] Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of the amber tears of the Heliades.^[7] In ordinary Greek it was replaced by αὐαίνω (auaínō) and ξηραίνω (xēraínō).^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a wound drying up.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it of cloths dried in the sun.^[5][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus has the active aorist τέρσαι.^[2][8]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of drops of amber.^[7][8]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander has the middle optative τέρσαιο.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become dry, dry up; of a wound, to be staunched.^[5][7]
2. To be dried or baked by the sun.^[5][7]
3. (active, Hellenistic poetry) To make dry.^[2]

Related words

• ταρσός (tarsós)
• τερσαίνω (tersaínō)
• Latin torreō
• English thirst

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge