τραπέζιον

Forms

τρᾰπέζῐον (trapézion) n (genitive τρᾰπεζίου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Ancient Greek τράπεζα (trápeza, “table”) with the suffix -ιον (-ion).^[1][2][3] Etymonline explains the base noun as a compound of a form of the word for “four” and πέζα (péza, “foot, edge”), related to πούς (poús, “foot”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lysias, in a fragment, uses it for the table of a money-changer.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is a small table, in Phylarchus and Plutarch.^[5][2] In geometry it names a four-sided figure: the use is already in the Aristotelian Problemata, which says the earth beneath us is sometimes cut into triangles, sometimes into trapezia, and Archimedes and Strabo use it.^[5][3] Etymonline gives the Greek sense as an irregular quadrilateral and reports the explanation that the Greek table had one side shorter than the opposite one.^[4]

It passed into Late Latin trapezium,^[6][4] which English borrowed as a geometrical term in the 1560s.^[4] In Modern Greek the learned τραπέζιο (trapézio) is the quadrilateral with two parallel unequal sides, and also the gymnast's trapeze, a sense taken from French trapèze, itself from the Late Latin word.^[7] Babiniotis dates the compound τραπεζιοειδής (trapezioeidís) to 1896.^[3]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Lysias uses it for a money-changer's table.^[5][8]
• 4th century BC – The Aristotelian Problemata uses it for a four-sided figure.^[5][3][8]
• 3rd century BC – Archimedes uses it in geometry, and Phylarchus for a small table.^[5][9][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a small table.^[2][8]
• 1560s – English borrows trapezium as a term of geometry, from Late Latin.^[4]
• 1896 – The Modern Greek compound τραπεζιοειδής (trapezioeidís) is first recorded.^[3]
• Modern Greek – τραπέζιο (trapézio) means a trapezium and, after French, a trapeze.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small table.^[5][2]
2. The table of a money-changer.^[5]
3. (geometry) A trapezium, a four-sided figure.^[5][3]

Related words

• τράπεζα (trápeza)
• τραπεζίτης (trapezítēs)
• Latin trapezium
• English trapezium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux