τύπτω

Forms

τῠ́πτω (túptō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push, beat”), with a zero-grade present.^[1][2][3] The same root is seen, according to Beekes, in Latin stupeō (“to be numb, be amazed”), stuprum (“dishonour”) and Albanian shtyp (“to crush”), and probably in στύπος (stúpos).^[3] Wiktionary compares Sanskrit तोपति (tópati, “hurts”) and Old Church Slavonic тъпати (tŭpati).^[1]

It forms a suppletive system with the aorist and perfect of other verbs, ἐπάταξα (epátaxa) and πέπληγα (péplēga).^[3] The noun τύπος (túpos) “blow, impression, image, type” is derived from it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for striking with a cudgel, and above all for wounding with a weapon held in the hand, as distinct from βάλλω (bállō), hitting with a thrown one.^[4][5] Figuratively, “sharp grief smote him deep in his heart” (Iliad 19.125).^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose and comedy τύπτω is the ordinary word for beating someone with the hand or fist, in Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes and the orators; the passive with an object means “to receive” blows.^[6][5] Polybius uses it even of striking with stones thrown by hand, and it is used for stinging, of wasps in Xenophon and of a snake in the Anacreontea.^[5][6] The middle means to beat one's breast in grief, and so to mourn for someone, in Herodotus.^[5] Hero uses it for striking coins.^[5]

In the New Testament it is used of beating and striking a person, on the face or the head, and of beating one's breast as a sign of sorrow.^[7] It survives as Modern Greek τύπτω (típto), as a learned word only in “my conscience strikes me”, I feel remorse, from a Hellenistic phrase.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – It is used for striking with a cudgel or a hand-held weapon.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the middle for beating one's breast in mourning.^[5][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the passive for receiving many blows;^[5][9] Xenophon for being stung by wasps.^[5][9]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of striking with stones.^[5][9]
• Koine – The New Testament uses it for striking a person and for beating one's breast.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives in the phrase “my conscience strikes me”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike, smite (with a weapon, a cudgel, a goad).^[5][6]
2. To beat, hit with the hand or fist.^[6]
3. To sting (of a snake, wasps).^[5]
4. (figurative) To smite, strike (of grief).^[5]
5. To strike (a coin).^[5]
6. (middle) To beat oneself (the breast) in grief; to mourn for someone.^[5]
7. (passive) To be struck, wounded; with an object, to receive (blows, wounds).^[5][6]

Word family

• ἀντιτύπτω (antitúptō)
• προτύπτω (protúptō)
• ὑποτύπτω (hupotúptō)
• ἀποτύπτω (apotúptō)
• κατατύπτω (katatúptō)
• τύπος (túpos)

Related words

• τύμμα (túmma)
• τύμπανον (túmpanon)
• Latin stupeō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge