τετραίνω

Forms

τετραίνω (tetraínō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a Greek formation from *terh₁- (“to rub”), with reduplication and the suffix -αίνω (-aínō).^[1][2] The old forms of the verb are the perfect passive τέτρημαι (tétrēmai), the adjective τρητός (trētós, “perforated”) and the noun τρῆμα (trêma, “hole”), formed like βέβλημαι (béblēmai), βλητός (blētós) and βλῆμα (blêma); the two-syllable root is kept in τέρετρον (téretron, “borer, gimlet”).^[2][3] The root present survives in Latin terō (“to rub”).^[2][4]

All the presents, τετραίνω among them, are Greek creations: Beekes and Chantraine take the present, the future τετρανέω (tetranéō) and the aorist infinitive τετρᾶναι (tetrânai) as innovations modelled on that class of verbs.^[2][3] The reduplication with ε, unusual in a present, was probably taken from the old perfect.^[2][3] Beekes doubts the comparison with Lithuanian trinù (“to rub”), since nasal presents are very productive in Lithuanian.^[2] Related Greek words are τείρω (teírō, “to wear out”) and τορεῖν (toreîn, “to pierce”), with its occasional reduplicated aorists.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has only the reduplicated aorist τέτρηνα (tétrēna).^[6][7] The Iliad uses it of piercing tendons, and the Odyssey of boring the needed holes in timber with a gimlet.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 5th century BC it is common in the perfect passive, of things full of holes: Herodotus uses it of the heavens as leaky, Aeschylus of a wounded man riddled like a net.^[5] Plato speaks of jars, a sieve and a soul compared to a sieve as perforated, and of the chasm of Tartarus as bored right through the earth.^[5] The leaking jar became a proverb for insatiable desire in Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus, and for wasted labour in Xenophon.^[5]

Beside the reduplicated forms Greek built a simpler aorist ἔτρησα (étrēsa) (Hippocratic writers, Plato) and later presents such as τιτραίνω (titraínō) (Theophrastus), τιτράω (titráō) and τίτρημι (títrēmi) (Galen).^[6][8] In the Septuagint it means to bore or drill, and its version of Proverbs has the bottomless jar.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the aorist of piercing tendons and boring timber.^[7][5]
• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it of boring through a jar.^[5][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Aeschylus use the perfect passive of things full of holes.^[5][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of the “leaking jar” as an image of the insatiable soul.^[5][10]
• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for boring and piercing.^[9][11]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses the middle aorist and the late present τίτρημι (títrēmi).^[6][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bore through, perforate, pierce.^[6][5]
2. (perfect passive) To be full of holes, be leaky.^[5][6]
3. (perfect passive) To be bored right through, of a chasm in the earth.^[5]

Related words

• τρῆμα (trêma)
• τέρετρον (téretron)
• τείρω (teírō)
• Latin terō

Usage notes

The “leaking jar” (πίθος (píthos) τετρημένος) was proverbial: to pour water into a leaking jar was to labour in vain.^[5][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Giannakis, Georgios K., ed. (2014), Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, 3 vols, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli