τήκω

Forms

τήκω (tḗkō) ^[1]

Etymology

Its root is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- (“to melt”);^[2][1] the perfect τέτηκα (tétēka) (Doric τέτᾱκα (tétāka)) and the aorist passive τακῆναι (takênai) point to a Greek root *teh₂k-.^[2][1][3] The /k/ is found in no other language;^[3] Chantraine compares it with the /k/ of λέληκα (lélēka) beside λακεῖν (lakeîn).^[3][2]

Without it, the root is well attested: Proto-Slavic *tajati (“to melt”), Old Armenian թանամ (tʻanam, “to moisten”), Old Irish tám (“death, plague”) and, with a suffix in /bʰ/, Latin tābēs (“wasting, decay”) and tābēscō (“to melt, waste away”).^[2][3][1] Wiktionary adds Old English þawian, the source of the English word thaw.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[4][5] In the Iliad the perfect τέτηκα (tétēka) means “I have wasted away”, said by a woman worn out with weeping; in the Odyssey it is used of snow melting and of a sick man wasting away.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The active means to melt something, and the passive and the intransitive perfect to melt, waste away: Herodotus has it of metals melted down and of winds that bring clouds down as rain, and Plato of substances dissolving.^[4][5] The figurative sense was strong from the start: a person pines away with grief, longing or jealousy, or melts with pity or love, and a lover's look grows languid.^[5][4] In the later language the perfect passive τέτηγμαι (tétēgmai) replaced the old intransitive perfect.^[3][4]

In the New Testament the second letter of Peter uses it of the elements dissolving at the end of the world, and 2 Clement compares the melting earth to lead over fire.^[7] Modern Greek uses τήκω (tíko) as a learned word of physics, “to melt”, of a solid turning liquid when heated.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the perfect for wasting away with tears; the Odyssey uses it of melting snow.^[4][5][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of melting metals down and of clouds brought down as rain.^[4][5][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of dissolving material substances.^[4][5][11]
• 1st century AD – The second letter of Peter has the elements melting at the end of the world.^[7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τήκω (tíko) is a learned term of physics for “to melt”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To melt, melt down, of metals and wax; to dissolve substances; of winds, to bring down moisture as rain.^[4][5]
2. (passive and intransitive perfect) To melt, of snow, metal or fat; to be dissolved or decomposed.^[5][4]
3. To make someone waste away, of sickness; in the passive, to be wasted by sickness or hunger.^[5]
4. To make someone pine away, to wear out one's heart or life in grief; in the passive, to pine away with grief or desire, or to melt with pity, love or tears.^[5][4]
5. To utter a lament while wasting away.^[5]

Word family

• ἀποτήκω (apotḗkō)
• διατήκω (diatḗkō)
• ἐκτήκω (ektḗkō)
• ἐντήκω (entḗkō)
• κατατήκω (katatḗkō)
• περιτήκω (peritḗkō)
• συντήκω (suntḗkō)
• τακερός (takerós)
• τηκεδών (tēkedṓn)
• τηκτός (tēktós)
• τακηρός (takērós)
• τῆξις (têxis)
• ὑποτήκομαι (hupotḗkomai)

Related words

• Latin tābēs
• English thaw

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 e 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
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. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge