τόμος

Forms

τόμος (tómos) m (genitive τόμου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”) with the suffix -ος (-os),^[1][2][3] showing the o-grade of the root, as do τομή (tomḗ, “cut”), τομεύς (tomeús) and τομίας (tomías, “eunuch”).^[4] Wiktionary suggests that it may continue Proto-Hellenic *tómos, from Proto-Indo-European *tómh₁os, a noun from the root *temh₁- (“to cut”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cratinus speaks of a slice of sausage, and in Aristophanes' Knights it is a slice of tripe and of cake.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In comedy it is a slice of food: sausages, cheese, beestings, turnip.^[5] More generally it is a piece cut off: of a tunic in an inscription from Samos of the 4th century BC, a beam of wood in accounts from Delos, and a piece of land in Boeotian inscriptions.^[5] Archimedes uses it in geometry for the portion of a cylinder or cone cut off by two parallel planes.^[5]

In the papyri of Hellenistic Egypt it is a roll of papyrus, first in a Zenon papyrus of the 3rd century BC, and the Septuagint uses it so in Isaiah.^[5][7][4] The sense “volume, tome”, one of the parts of a longer work, appears later, in a papyrus of the 2nd century AD, and Diogenes Laertius has it.^[5][4] Coptic borrowed it as ⲧⲟⲙⲟⲥ (tomos), first recorded about AD 350.^[8]

Latin took it as tomus,^[9] and English tome (1510s) comes from French tome or directly from the Latin word.^[10] In Modern Greek the learned τόμος (tómos) is a volume of a work in several parts or the yearly set of a periodical's issues, and the sense was reinforced by French volume and tome.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Cratinus speaks of a slice of sausage.^[5][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes' Knights has slices of tripe and of cake.^[5][6][12]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Samos uses it for a piece of a tunic.^[5]
• 3rd century BC – Archimedes uses it for a segment of a cylinder or cone, and a Zenon papyrus for a roll of papyrus.^[5][4][12]
• 2nd century AD – A papyrus uses it for a volume of a work.^[5][4]
• About AD 350 – Coptic has the borrowed word.^[8]
• 1510s – English borrows it as tome, from French or Latin.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned τόμος (tómos) means a volume.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slice (of meat, cake, cheese); generally, a piece cut off, such as a piece of cloth or a beam of wood.^[5][6]
2. A piece of land.^[5]
3. (geometry) The portion of a cylinder or cone cut off between two parallel sections, a frustum.^[5]
4. A roll of papyrus.^[5][7]
5. A volume or tome.^[5]

Related words

• τέμνω (témnō)
• τομή (tomḗ)
• Latin tomus
• English tome

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
4. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge