τράπεζα

Forms

τρᾰ́πεζᾰ (trápeza) f (genitive τρᾰπέζης); first declension^[1] Mycenaean Greek to-pe-za, read torpeza, with the o for a that is regular in that dialect.^[2][3] Doric τράπεσδα (Alcman).^[4][5] Boeotian τρέπεδδα.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *t(w)r̥-ped-ja, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷtur-ped-ih₂- (“having four feet”), a compound of the zero grade of the word for “four” (τέσσαρες (téssares)) and the word for “foot” (πούς (poús)), with the feminine suffix *-ih₂.^[2][5] Chantraine notes that, unlike τρίπους (trípous), it has the e-grade of “foot”, and that the loss of the first syllable of “four” is not well explained.^[6] Cunliffe takes it as a reduced τετρα- (tetra-), and Babiniotis explains the loss as haplology, perhaps because the syllable was felt as a reduplication.^[7][8]

Wiktionary mentions the alternative that the first element is *tr̥- (“three”), since early tables had three legs, as Sihler points out;^[1] Beekes prefers “four”.^[1] A folk-etymological connection with “three” produced Boeotian τρέπεδδα (trépedda) and Hesychius' gloss τρίπεζα (trípeza).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets of Knossos and Pylos list tables, to-pe-za.^[3][2] In Homer it is a table, especially one for food.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

From the table itself it came to mean the meal and the food on it, and hospitality, the “table” one keeps;^[5] Polybius speaks of δεύτεραι τράπεζαι, the second course, and Thucydides and Plato of the cuisine of a country.^[5][4] In sanctuaries it was the offering table.^[5] In Athens the money-changer's table became the bank, a sense common in the Attic orators; the New Testament has the tables of the money-changers.^[5][9]

Today Modern Greek τράπεζα (trápeza) is a learned word: “bank” (with meanings taken from English bank), “table” in formal use and phrases such as round table (after French table), and in the Church Αγία Τράπεζα, the altar.^[10]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets of Knossos and Pylos record tables, to-pe-za.^[3][2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for dining tables.^[7][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the meal set on the table.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of a country's style of cooking.^[5][11]
• 4th century BC – The Attic orators use it for the banker's table, the bank.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius has δεύτεραι τράπεζαι, the second course.^[5][11]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τράπεζα (trápeza) means a bank, and in the Church the altar.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A table, especially a dining table.^[4][5]
2. Provision of food for guests, hospitality, the table one keeps; board, as opposed to bed.^[5]
3. The food set on the table, a meal;^[5] δεύτεραι τράπεζαι, the second course.^[5]
4. The style of meals of a country, cuisine.^[5]
5. An offering table in a sanctuary.^[5]
6. A money-changer's table, a bank.^[5][9]
7. A shop counter or stall, as of a butcher.^[5]

Word family

• τραπεζεύς (trapezeús)
• τραπέζιον (trapézion)
• τραπεζοκόμος (trapezokómos)
• τραπεζοποιός (trapezopoiós)
• τραπεζίτης (trapezī́tēs)
• τραπεζιτικός (trapezītikós)
• τραπεζοειδής (trapezoeidḗs)
• τραπεζοφόρος (trapezophóros)

Related words

• τέσσαρες (téssares)
• πούς (poús)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
4. ^ a b c 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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge