τεῖχος

Forms

τεῖχος (teîkhos) n (genitive τείχεος or τείχους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *téikʰos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, fashion”), an s-stem *dʰéyǵʰ-s-.^[1][2][3] Beside it stands the o-grade noun τοῖχος (toîkhos, “wall of a house”), the pair being like γένος (génos) and γόνος (gónos).^[4][2] The s-stem formation is isolated, but the e-grade is also found in Oscan.^[2] τοῖχος corresponds exactly to Sanskrit देह (deha, “body”), beside which the feminine means “wall, dam”; related are the Avestan word for a surrounding wall, the source of παράδεισος (parádeisos), the Gothic word for “dough” and Latin fingō (“to shape”), while Old Armenian դէզ (dēz, “heap”) is probably an innovation.^[2][1][4] Mycenaean has the compound Mycenaean Greek to-ko-do-mo, with the stem of τοῖχος and the word for “builder”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a defensive wall, above all the walls of a city, such as those of Thebes (Iliad 2.691), and also a temporary wall built in war.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Classical Greek used it for any defensive wall: a city wall, a temporary fortification, and by metonymy a fortress.^[6] At Athens the Long Walls joined the city to the Piraeus and Phaleron.^[6] An oracle in Herodotus promised Athens safety in a “wooden wall”, which was taken to mean the fleet.^[6] Pindar uses the same image for a pyre, and Demosthenes uses the word figuratively for any protection.^[6] τεῖχος was the wall of a fortification, τοῖχος the wall of a house.^[4]

The Septuagint uses it for city walls and the walls of the Temple, and the New Testament uses it of a city wall (Acts 9:25).^[7][8] Today Modern Greek τείχος (teíchos) is a learned word.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the walls of Thebes.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus reports the oracle of the “wooden wall”.^[6][10]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides names the Long Walls of Athens.^[6][10]
• 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles use it for a city wall.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned τείχος.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A defensive wall.^[6][11]
2. A city wall, often in the plural.^[6][5]
3. A temporary wall, a fortification.^[6]
4. A walled place, a fortress.^[6]
5. Long Walls: the walls joining Athens to the Piraeus and Phaleron.^[6]
6. (figurative) A protection; the “wooden wall” of the fleet.^[6]

Word family

• εὐτείχεος (euteíkheos)
• τειχίζω (teikhízō)
• τειχοφύλαξ (teikhophúlax)
• τειχίον (teikhíon)

Related words

• τοῖχος (toîkhos)
• παράδεισος (parádeisos)
• Latin fingō

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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press