τείρω

Forms

τείρω (teírō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *téřřō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub”).^[1][2][3] Beekes takes it as a full-grade present with the suffix *-ye-; the LIV classes it as an old root present beside Latin terō (“to rub”).^[2][3] The same root is in τέρην (térēn) “tender”, τετραίνω (tetraínō) “to bore”, τιτρώσκω (titrṓskō) “to wound”, τρύω (trúō) “to wear out” and τρίβω (tríbō) “to rub”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, of what wears people down in body and mind: “old age wears you down” (Iliad 4.315), a wound that distresses a warrior (16.510), sweat (5.796), and the stench of seals (Odyssey 4.441).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It remained an epic and poetic verb, found only in the present and imperfect.^[2][4][6] In Homer it is above all a word of battle: warriors are “worn down” by the enemy, and the passive describes men in extremity.^[5][6] Archaic poets used it of love and of cares, as Mimnermus and Telestes do, and tragedy has the passive “to be in distress”.^[4][7] An anonymous lyric fragment uses it for crushing flowers underfoot.^[7] The negative adjective ἀτειρής (ateirḗs, “unwearying”) is related.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of old age, wounds and enemies that wear a person down.^[4][5]
• 6th century BC – Mimnermus uses it of cares.^[4][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of oppressors wearing a person down.^[7][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Telestes uses it of love.^[4][8]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes still uses it of wounds and pain.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wear down, exhaust, harass (of enemies and weapons).^[7][4]
2. To distress, pain (of wounds, old age, hunger, cares, love); (passive) to be in pain or distress.^[7][4]
3. To bruise, crush underfoot.^[7]

Word family

• ἀτειρής (ateirḗs)
• ἐντείρω (enteírō)
• περιτείρω (periteírō)

Related words

• τρίβω (tríbō)
• Latin terō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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