Etymologically
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τέχνη

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /té.kʰnɛː/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈte.xni/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈte.xni/[1]

Forms

τέχνη (tékhnē) f (genitive τέχνης); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *téḱ-sneh₂, from *tetḱ- (“to create, produce”).[1] Frisk explains it as a formation like πάχνη (pákhnē) and λάχνη (lákhnē), from a pre-form *téksnā.[2] How it relates to τέκτων (téktōn, “carpenter, builder”) is not quite clear: probably both come independently from the same verb, the one seen in Sanskrit तक्षति (takṣati, “fashions”), which would give a base *tékt-snā.[2] The Πάπυρος dictionary notes that the consonant cluster this requires is unique in Greek.[3]

Cognate with Latin texō (“to weave”), tēla (“web”) and tignum (“beam”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for a craftsman's skill, such as that of a man who cuts ship timber with an axe (Iliad 3.61), and for cunning and wiles (Odyssey 4.455).[4] In the Odyssey it also names something cleverly contrived, such as the devices of Hephaestus.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the 5th century BC it is any art, craft or profession, manual, artistic or intellectual: Herodotus, Aristophanes and the orators use it of trades.[5] Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle use it for expert knowledge, and Plato sets art against nature and chance.[5] For Aristotle a τέχνη was also a systematic treatise, as of rhetoric.[5] The bad sense, craft or trickery, continued from Homer on, and fixed phrases used it for “means”: Herodotus and a treaty in Thucydides have “by no means”.[5]

Latin borrowed it as techna, “a trick”.[6][1] In the New Testament it is a trade: Paul was a tentmaker by trade.[7]

In Modern Greek τέχνη still means a craft and a skill; its sense “art” in the aesthetic sense (the fine arts) is a learned semantic loan from French art.[8] English techno- was formed from it in the mid-19th century.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for skill and for cunning.[4]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a trade and in the phrase “by no means”.[5][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato sets art against nature and chance.[5][10]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a systematic treatise.[5][10]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for a trade.[7]
  • Mid-19th century – English forms techno- from it.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Skill, craftsmanship, art.[11][5]
  2. A craft, trade or profession.[5]
  3. Expert knowledge; a method or system, a treatise.[5]
  4. Art, design, as opposed to nature or chance.[5]
  5. A product of craftsmanship, a piece of handiwork.[5][4]
  6. Cunning, artifice, a trick.[5][4]
  7. Manner, means: “by no means”, “by every means”.[5]

Word family

  • τεχνάζω (tekhnázō)
  • τεχνάομαι (tekhnáomai)
  • τεχνικός (tekhnikós)
  • ἀτεχνέω (atekhnéō)
  • τεχνίτης (tékhnī́tēs)
  • τεχνογράφος (tekhnográphos)
  • τεχνολογία (tekhnologíā)
  • τεχνολόγος (tekhnológos)
  • Latin techna
  • English techno-

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  3. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  4. ^ a b c d e 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 l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  7. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  11. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press