τριάκοντα

Forms

τρῐᾱ́κοντᾰ (triā́konta) (ordinal τρῐᾱκοστός, adverbial τρῐᾱκοντᾰ́κῐς, collective τρῐᾱκοντᾰ́ς)^[1] Ionic and epic τριήκοντα (triḗkonta); usually indeclinable, but Hesiod has the genitive τριηκόντων (triēkóntōn).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tridḱómt (“thirty”).^[1] The word is a compound of a form of τρεῖς (treîs, “three”) and the element -κοντα (-konta) that marks the tens, as in ἑξήκοντα (hexḗkonta) and πεντήκοντα (pentḗkonta).^[4][5] Chantraine traces the second member to the Indo-European noun for a decade, Proto-Indo-European *dḱomt, while the final -a remains unexplained.^[5] The first member ⟨τριᾱ-⟩ has been explained in several ways, often as a neuter plural, and Chantraine calls it in any case an innovation, perhaps analogical.^[5]

Cognate with Latin trīgintā, Sanskrit त्रिंशत् (triṃśát) and Old Armenian երեսուն (eresun).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, in the Ionic form τριήκοντα (triḗkonta), in the Iliad (2.516), meaning “thirty”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod already declines the numeral (genitive τριηκόντων (triēkóntōn)), and later epic poets imitate him, but in ordinary use it is indeclinable.^[2][3] An inscription from Epidaurus (3rd century BC) builds compound numbers with it, “thirty and one” for thirty-one.^[2]

With the article, “the Thirty” were bodies of thirty men: at Sparta a council of war, and at Athens the oligarchs imposed on the city in 404 BC after the Peloponnesian War, commonly called the Thirty Tyrants.^[2][3] At Athens the thirty auditors (λογισταί) were also sometimes called simply “the Thirty”.^[2] The New Testament uses it of a thirtyfold yield of grain.^[7]

Late Greek shortened it to τριάντα (triánta), with the loss of the syllable -κο-, as in Modern Greek εξήντα (exínta) and σαράντα (saránda); this is the Modern Greek numeral, while τριάκοντα survives only as a learned word.^[2][4][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the Ionic form τριήκοντα.^[2][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses the declined genitive τριηκόντων.^[2][3][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato, Xenophon and the Attic orators call the oligarchs of 404 BC “the Thirty”, and Xenophon also uses the name for a Spartan council of war.^[2][3][9]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus writes thirty-one as “thirty and one”.^[2]
• Hellenistic period – The shortened form τριάντα (triánta) appears.^[4][8]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of a thirtyfold yield of grain.^[7]
• Modern Greek – The numeral is τριάντα (triánta); τριάκοντα is a learned word.^[8][4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Thirty.^[2][3]
2. (with the article) The Thirty, the oligarchs imposed on Athens in 404 BC, the “Thirty Tyrants”.^[2][3]
3. (with the article, Sparta) A council of war of thirty men.^[2]
4. (with the article, Athens) The thirty auditors (λογισταί), and other boards of thirty magistrates.^[2]

Word family

• τριακοστός (triakostós)
• τριακάς (triakás)

Related words

• τρεῖς (treîs)
• τριακόσιοι (triakósioi)
• εἴκοσι (eíkosi)
• Latin trīgintā
• Modern Greek τριάντα (triánta)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge