φαρέτρα

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /pʰa.ré.traː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ɸaˈre.tra/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /faˈre.tra/^[1]

Forms

φᾰρέτρᾱ (pharétrā) f (genitive φᾰρέτρᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Ancient grammarians, among them Philoxenus, derived it from φέρω (phérō, “to carry”), and many modern scholars took it as an instrument noun in -τρα (-tra) on a zero grade of that root, beside the full grade of φέρετρον (phéretron, “bier, litter”), like βάραθρον (bárathron) beside βέρεθρον (bérethron).^[2][3][4][5] Babiniotis still finds this possible.^[4] Beekes objects that such a zero grade is no longer accepted since the laryngeal theory, and thinks of a loanword, for instance from Iranian, adapted to the verb by folk etymology.^[3][1] Chantraine, too, finds the narrow meaning surprising and suspects a loan, citing Hubschmid's evidence that words for a quiver are often borrowed.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, in the Ionic form φαρέτρη, for a quiver for arrows.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the one meaning “quiver” in Homer, Pindar, tragedy and Plato, who compares people who pull little phrases out of a quiver.^[6][2] Its compounds include εὐφαρέτρας (eupharétras) “with a fine quiver”, used by Sophocles, and φαρετροφόρος (pharetrophóros) “quiver-bearing”, in an epigram of Meleager.^[2] It is found in the Septuagint.^[9] Latin borrowed it as pharetra.^[10] Modern Greek keeps φαρέτρα (farétra) as a learned word.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a quiver.^[6][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar speaks of arrows inside the quiver.^[6][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato compares sayings drawn from a quiver.^[6][12]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek φαρέτρα (farétra) survives as a learned word.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A quiver for arrows.^[6][5]
2. A quiverful (of arrows).^[6]

Word family

• εὐφαρέτρας (eupharétras)
• φαρετροφόρος (pharetrophóros)

Related words

• φέρω (phérō)
• φέρετρον (phéretron)
• Latin pharetra

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge