τόρνος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /tór.nos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈtor.nos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈtor.nos/^[1]

Forms

τόρνος (tórnos) m (genitive τόρνου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tórh₁nos, from *terh₁- (“to rub, bore, twist”).^[1] Frisk describes it as a carpenters' word, an instrument noun in -νος (-nos), belonging with τέρετρον (téretron, “borer”) to the group of τείρω (teírō), τορεῖν (toreîn, “to bore”) and Latin terō (“to rub”).^[2][3] It is close in meaning to κυκλοτερής (kukloterḗs, “round”) and teres (“rounded, smooth”).^[2] τόρμος (tórmos, “socket”) is a doublet of it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Theognis (6th century BC), for the peg and string used to trace a circle.^[4][5] Herodotus and Euripides use it in the same sense.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Xenophon uses it figuratively for the centre of a circle, placing Athens like the peg at the centre of the world around it.^[5] Aeschylus and Plato use it for a lathe, on which wood was turned.^[5] Its derivatives include τορνεύω (torneúō) “to turn (on a lathe)” (Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato) and τορνόομαι (tornóomai) “to round off, mark out in a circle”, already in Homer.^[6]

Latin borrowed it as tornus.^[7][1] Modern Greek τόρνος continues the ancient word.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The derivative τορνόομαι is used for marking out a circle.^[6]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for the peg and string.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it.^[5][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a lathe;^[5] Xenophon for the centre of a circle.^[5][9]
• Modern Greek – τόρνος continues the word.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A peg and string, a tool like a pair of compasses for tracing circles.^[5][1]
2. (figurative) The centre of a circle.^[5]
3. A lathe; a carving knife.^[5][6]
4. A circle, something turned round.^[1][6]

Word family

• ἔντορνος (éntornos)
• τορνόομαι (tornóomai)
• τορνεύω (torneúō)
• τορνίσκος (tornískos)

Related words

• Latin tornus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b 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