τρέφω

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /tré.pʰɔː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈtre.ɸo/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈtre.fo/^[1]

Forms

τρέφω (tréphō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tʰrépʰō;^[1] the initial /tʰ/ lost its aspiration by Grassmann's law, which is why the aspirate reappears where the /pʰ/ lost its own: future θρέψω (thrépsō), aorist ἔθρεψα (éthrepsa).^[1][2] Its further origin is disputed.^[1] The oldest concrete sense appears to be “to thicken, curdle”, as in Homer's “curdling” of milk and Theocritus' “setting” of cheese.^[3][2]

The LIV derives it from Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *dʰrebʰ- (“to separate, settle, curdle”).^[4] Beekes points out that the formally closest cognates, Lithuanian drė̃bti (“to throw a thick fluid”) and Lithuanian drìbti (“to fall in flakes”), do not fit in meaning, and that words for “dregs” such as Old High German trebir and English draff are only a possible match.^[3] In Beekes's view the verb is Pre-Greek: the root has no secure Indo-European cognates, the cheese name τράφαλλος (tráphallos) has the Pre-Greek suffix -αλλος (-allos), and θρόμβος (thrómbos, “clot, curd”) shows the prenasalization typical of Pre-Greek.^[3][5] Babiniotis keeps the Indo-European root.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[7] The Iliad uses it for bringing up a child and for rearing animals, and the Odyssey for curdling milk.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Homer already has both the concrete sense “to thicken, curdle” and the usual one, “to make grow, rear, bring up”, of children, animals and plants; the passive meant “to grow up”.^[2][3] Poets and historians used it of lands that “breed” men, animals and produce, and of growing one's hair as an offering to a god.^[2] Abstract uses followed: to foster virtue, a hope, an anger or a disease.^[2][9] Its many derivatives include τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”) and τροφός (trophós, “nurse”).^[3]

In the New Testament it means “to feed” people and animals and “to bring up” a child.^[10] It survives as Modern Greek τρέφω (tréfo): “to feed” and “to support” someone are senses from the Hellenistic period, while “to rear” animals continues the ancient verb and the figurative “to nurse” a feeling is a learned revival.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for bringing up children and animals, and the Odyssey for curdling milk.^[2][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony and the Works and Days.^[7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for growing the beard or hair long, and for lands that produce spices.^[2][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for fostering virtue.^[2][12]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it for setting cheese.^[2][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for feeding people and animals.^[10]
• Modern Greek – It means “to feed” and “to support”, senses dating from the Hellenistic period.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To thicken or curdle (milk); to set (cheese).^[2][3]
2. To rear, bring up (a child); (passive) to grow up, be brought up.^[2][9]
3. To rear, keep (cattle, horses, dogs, birds).^[2]
4. Of a land or the sea: to breed, nourish, produce (people, animals, plants).^[2]
5. To let grow (hair, a beard); to tend (a plant).^[2][9]
6. (figurative) To foster, cherish (a hope, a feeling, virtue).^[2][9]
7. To feed, provide food for; to support.^[10][9]

Word family

• ἀνατρέφω (anatréphō)
• ἀντιτρέφω (antitréphō)
• διατρέφω (diatréphō)
• ἐκτρέφω (ektréphō)
• ἐντρέφω (entréphō)
• ἐπιτρέφω (epitréphō)
• θρέπτειρα (thrépteira)
• θρεπτήρια (threptḗria)
• θρεπτήριος (threptḗrios)
• θρεπτικός (threptikós)
• θρεπτός (threptós)
• θρέπτρα (thrétra)
• ἰχθυοτρόφος (ikhthuotróphos)
• λιπαρότροφος (liparótrophos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge