Etymologically
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τείνω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /těː.nɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈti.no/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈti.no/[1]

Forms

τείνω (teínō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *téňňō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tén-ye-ti, a present of *ten- (“to stretch”).[1][2] Beekes explains that Greek made this new present in place of the old present in ⟨-νυ-⟩, which survives in τάνυται (tánutai) and τανύω (tanúō); it agrees with Albanian nden (“to stretch”), if that is from a compound with the same present.[3] The aorist ἔτεινα (éteina) is an old s-aorist.[3][2] The full grade of the root survives in τένων (ténōn, “sinew, tendon”) and in ἀτενής (atenḗs), whose underlying neuter noun is formally identical with Latin tenus (“a string with a noose”).[3]

Cognate with Sanskrit तनोति (tanóti, “extends, spreads”), tendō and Old English þennan.[1] Greek also has a reduplicated form, τιταίνω (titaínō).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to draw tight or strain: to pull the reins tight, of sails stretched by the wind, and, figuratively, of a battle “strained evenly” between two sides (Iliad 12.436).[4][5][6] It is also used of night or a storm spread over men.[6]

Semantic evolution

From “stretch tight” the verb came to mean “stretch out, spread”, “hold out” a hand or a spear, and “aim at, direct towards”, a sense taken from the bow.[6] Aeschylus and Euripides use it for drawing out a long life.[6] Used without an object it means “to extend”, of a mountain or a coast in Herodotus, and figuratively “to tend towards” something.[6] The passive is used of a man who lies stretched on the ground.[6]

The noun τόνος (tónos) “tension, cord” came to mean the pitch of the voice, a tone or an accent, and gave musical and grammatical terms.[3] Apollonius Dyscolus uses τείνω itself for lengthening a syllable.[6] It survives in Modern Greek τείνω (tíno) as a learned word, “to tend”.[7]

Timeline

  • Homer – It is used for reins, sails and the strain of battle.[4][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod has the perfect passive τέταται.[8][9]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for prolonging life.[6][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the extent of a mountain;[6][9] Sophocles uses it for aiming arrows.[6][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato has the perfect active τέτακα.[3][9]
  • 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it for lengthening a syllable.[6][9]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word, “to tend”.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stretch tight, draw tight (reins, a rope, rigging).[6][5]
  2. (figurative) To strain (the issue of a battle).[6]
  3. To stretch out, spread.[6]
  4. To aim, direct (a weapon, words) towards something.[6]
  5. To lay out at length;[6] (passive) to lie stretched out.[6]
  6. To hold out, present (a hand, a shield, a spear).[6]
  7. To prolong, draw out (life, a speech).[6]
  8. (intransitive) To extend (of a mountain, a coast); to tend towards.[6][5]
  9. (grammar) To lengthen (a syllable).[6]

Word family

  • ἀνατείνω (anateínō)
  • ἀντιτείνω (antiteínō)
  • ἀποτείνω (apoteínō)
  • διατείνω (diateínō)
  • ἐκτείνω (ekteínō)
  • ἐντείνω (enteínō)
  • ἐπιτείνω (epiteínō)
  • κατατείνω (katateínō)
  • παρατείνω (parateínō)
  • περιτείνω (periteínō)
  • προτείνω (proteínō)
  • συντείνω (sunteínō)
  • τάσις (tásis)
  • τανύω (tanúō)
  • τόνος (tónos)
  • τένων (ténōn)
  • τιταίνω (titaínō)
  • Latin tendō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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
  4. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  5. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge