τρίτος

Forms

τρῐ́τος (trítos) m (feminine τρῐ́τη, neuter τρῐ́τον); first/second declension^[1] Aeolic τέρτος (tértos); epic and poetic enlarged τρίτατος (trítatos), Aeolic τέρτατος (tértatos) in Pindar.^[2][3] The Mycenaean ti-ri-to on a Knossos tablet (KN Dv 1386) is read as a personal name, Tritos.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *trítos, formed from *tréyes (“three”) with the ordinal suffix *-tos.^[1] Beekes counts it among the inherited forms of the numeral τρεῖς (treîs, “three”), and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós ~ *tritós, an ordinal formed like those with *-tós.^[2][1] It is built on the weak stem ⟨τρι-⟩ of the numeral with the suffix ⟨-τος⟩ of πέμπτος (pémptos) and ἕκτος (héktos).^[5][6]

It matches exactly Tocharian B trite and Tocharian A trit, while Latin tertius has an added suffix *-yos.^[2][7] Pokorny also compares Lithuanian trẽčias, with ⟨tre-⟩ for ⟨tri-⟩.^[8] The Aeolic τέρτος (tértos) comes from the same form by a change of vowel and an exchange of places between the vowel and the /r/, as in κρίκος (kríkos) beside κίρκος (kírkos).^[8][6] The epic τρίτατος (trítatos) was enlarged on the model of τέτρατος (tétratos).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it means “third”, the last of three: the Iliad speaks of the third day and the third set of prizes, and uses the neuter τὸ τρίτον (tò tríton) for “in the third place” and “for the third time”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The third often closes a series, and several fixed uses grew from this: τρίτος αὐτός (trítos autós) “himself the third”, that is, with two others; τρίτη (trítē) (with or without ἡμέρα (hēmérā)) for the day after tomorrow; τὰ τρίτα (tà tríta) for the offerings made on the third day after a funeral; and the third libation, poured to Zeus the Saviour.^[10][11] In the theatre “to speak the third part” meant to take the least important role, a phrase Demosthenes uses.^[11][10] Other words were understood with the feminine: the third string of the lyre, the third blow, a third part of a coin or weight.^[10]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament the neuter means “for the third time”, and the Second Epistle to the Corinthians speaks of the “third heaven”.^[10][12] Coptic borrowed it as ⲧⲣⲓⲧⲟⲥ (tritos).^[13]

Medieval and Modern Greek keep the word, and the feminine Τρίτη (Tríti) became the name of Tuesday, the third day of the week.^[6] Some Modern Greek uses of τρίτος (trítos) are learned calques on French tiers and English third.^[14]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – A Knossos tablet has Mycenaean Greek ti-ri-to, read as the personal name Tritos.^[4]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the third of a series and τὸ τρίτον (tò tríton) for “for the third time”.^[9][10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar names the bowl from which the third libation was poured.^[11][15]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the feminine for the day after tomorrow and the neuter plural for the third-day offerings to the dead.^[10][11][15]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses “to speak the third part” of an actor in the least role.^[10][11][15]
• 1st century AD – The Second Epistle to the Corinthians speaks of the “third heaven”.^[12]
• About AD 500 – The Coptic borrowing ⲧⲣⲓⲧⲏ (tritē) appears in a dated Sahidic manuscript.^[13]
• Modern Greek – τρίτος (trítos) continues the word, and Τρίτη (Tríti) is Tuesday.^[14][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Third in a series, often as the last of three.^[10][11]
2. Third in rank or merit; third in a race or contest.^[11][10]
3. τρίτος αὐτός (trítos autós): himself with two others.^[10]
4. (feminine, as a noun) τρίτη (trítē): the day after tomorrow, or the third day; also the third string of the heptachord and a third part of a coin or weight.^[10]
5. (neuter, as an adverb) τρίτον (tríton), τὸ τρίτον (tò tríton): thirdly; for the third time.^[10][9]
6. (neuter, as a noun) A third part; the third libation, to Zeus the Saviour.^[10][11]
7. (neuter plural, as a noun) τὰ τρίτα (tà tríta): offerings made on the third day after a funeral; the third part in a play; third place in a race.^[10][11]

Word family

• τρίτατος (trítatos)
• τριταῖος (tritaîos)
• τριτεύς (triteús)
• τριτεῖα (triteîa)

Related words

• τρεῖς (treîs)
• τρίς (trís)
• Latin tertius

Usage notes

Photius explains the “third bowl” of the symposium, drunk to Zeus Teleios the Saviour, with a remark of Philochorus that three is the first perfect number, having a beginning, a middle and an end.^[16][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
9. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
16. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
17. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)