Etymologically
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ταναός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ta.na.ós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ta.naˈos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ta.naˈos/[1]

Forms

τᾰνᾰός (tanaós) m (feminine τᾰνᾰή or τᾰνᾰός, neuter τᾰνᾰόν); first/second declension[1] Mycenaean Greek ta-na-wa, of wheels.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Indo-European: Beekes reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *tnh₂-eu-o-, Wiktionary Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂- (“thin, outstretched”).[2][1][3] Cognate with Sanskrit तनु (tanú), Latin tenuis and Old English þynne (English thin).[1][2] Within Greek it goes with τανυ- (tanu-) and τάνυται (tánutai).[2]

The laryngeal is needed for almost every branch, as Beekes argues against Christophe, who derived the stem from Proto-Indo-European *tnu- and explained ταναός with a second prop vowel.[2] LSJ links it with τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”) and gives the older form as ταναϝός (tanawós).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets use the word of wheels.[2] In the Iliad it describes a long, slender javelin.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective stayed in epic and lyric poetry.[2] The Homeric Hymn to Demeter uses it of tall ears of corn, Alcman of slim feet, and Empedocles of a fine ray of light or flame.[5][4] Euripides has it of long locks and, perhaps through association with τανύω (tanúō), of the wide upper air.[5][4] Later poets used it of a slender poplar and a Triton's conch.[5]

It formed poetic compounds such as ταναήκης (tanaḗkēs, “with a long point”), of weapons in Homer, and ταναύποδα, an epithet of sheep in the Odyssey.[2]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean – ta-na-wa describes wheels on the Linear B tablets.[2]
  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of a long javelin.[5][4][6]
  • 7th century BC – Alcman uses it of slender feet.[5][7]
  • 5th century BC – Empedocles uses it of fine rays of light and fire, and Euripides of long hair and the outspread air.[5][4][7]
  • 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of a tall poplar.[5][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Long and slender, tall and slim: of a javelin, ears of corn, a poplar, locks of hair.[5][4]
  2. Thin, fine, of a ray of light or a flame.[5][4]
  3. Outspread, wide, of the upper air.[5]

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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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 c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge