τεκτονικός

Forms

τεκτονῐκός (tektonikós) m (feminine τεκτονῐκή, neuter τεκτονῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek τέκτων (téktōn, “carpenter, builder”) + -ικός (-ikós), an adjective of belonging made from the stem ⟨τεκτον-⟩ of the noun.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in classical Attic prose: Plato uses it of a person skilled in building, and, as a noun, of a good carpenter or builder, whom Xenophon sets against the smith.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Plato and Xenophon the feminine ἡ τεκτονική (supply τέχνη, “art”) is the craft of carpentry or joinery, often contrasted with smiths' work, and the neuter τὸ τεκτονικόν is skill in carpentry.^[4][5][2] The adjective also describes the tools and materials of the joiner: Plato's Epinomis speaks of a carpenter's tools, Theophrastus of the uses of timber, and Galen of carpenter's glue.^[4] The Septuagint has it once, of carpentry work, in Exodus.^[6]

Modern Greek took the word up as a learned term in two new senses: in geology, of the structure and deformation of the Earth's crust, a meaning modelled on German tektonisch, and of Freemasonry, after Italian massonico.^[7][8] English tectonic came through Late Latin tectonicus in the 1650s with the sense “of building”, and acquired the geological meaning in 1887.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of people skilled in building and calls carpentry ἡ τεκτονική, and Xenophon opposes the carpenter to the smith.^[4][5][10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus applies it to the joiner's use of wood.^[4][10]
• 3rd century BC – A Zenon papyrus uses the neuter plural for joinery.^[4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen writes of carpenter's glue.^[4][10]
• 1650s – English borrows it, through Late Latin, as tectonic.^[9]
• 1887 – The geological sense of the English word is first recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Skilled in building or carpentry.^[4][5]
2. Of or for a joiner or carpenter: his tools, his glue.^[4]
3. (as a noun, masculine) A good carpenter or builder.^[4][5]
4. (as a noun, feminine, ἡ τεκτονική) The craft of carpentry, joinery.^[4][5]
5. (as a noun, neuter) Skill in carpentry; in the plural, carpentry work.^[4][5]

Related words

• τέκτων (téktōn)
• Latin tectonicus
• English tectonic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
9. ^ a b c 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