φθίνω

Forms

φθίνω (phthínō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰgʷʰey- (“to decline, disappear”).^[2][1] The LIV glosses the root “to perish through heat, go under”.^[3] According to Beekes, who follows the LIV, Indo-European formed a nasal present *dʰgʷʰ-n(é)-i-, which Greek remade as *dʰgʷʰi-n(é)u-, whence φθινύθω (phthinúthō) and, through a form with ⟨ϝ⟩, this verb (with a long ι in Ionic and a short one in Attic); Indo-Iranian remade it differently, as in Sanskrit क्षिणाति (kṣiṇā́ti, “to destroy”).^[2][1] The athematic aorist forms such as φθίμενος (phthímenos) “dead” continue an old root aorist.^[2]

The Mycenaean form e-qi-ti-wo-e is explained by García Ramón, following Ruijgh, as a perfect participle meaning “dead”, later replaced by the aorist participle.^[2] The Mycenaean name Mycenaean Greek a-qi-ti-ta contains the negative compound that Homer has in ἄφθιτος (áphthitos), as in the phrase for “imperishable fame”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Odyssey months wane and come to an end and life ebbs from the limbs, the middle forms mean “to perish, die”, and the future and aorist are used transitively for “to destroy”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Classical poetry and prose use it of things that come to an end or waste away: days and nights that pass in Hesiod and Sophocles, the last week of the month in Thucydides, persons and plants that wither in Empedocles, Sophocles, Euripides and Plato, oracles that come to nothing in Sophocles.^[5] The aorist participle stood for “the dead”, and tragedy has φθιτοί (phthitoí) in the same sense.^[5][2] From the verbal stem comes φθίσις (phthísis) “wasting, consumption”, used from Pindar and the Hippocratic writers on.^[2] The Septuagint uses it once, of the waning moon.^[6]

In Modern Greek φθίνω (fthíno) is a learned revival, used only in the present stem, for decline and decrease.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it of waning months and of life ebbing away; the middle means “to perish”.^[5][2]
• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses the passive of a person wasted in arms and neck.^[5][8]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for the last week of the month, and Herodotus uses it for “to perish”.^[5][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of things that waste away.^[5][8]
• Modern Greek – It is revived as a learned word for “to decline”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of the moon and the month, to wane; of days, nights and life, to come to an end, pass; of the stars, to set.^[5][6]
2. To waste away, wither, decay; of youth and strength, to decline.^[5][2]
3. Of oracles and fortunes, to fade, come to nothing, end in ruin.^[5]
4. To perish, die; the participle, the dead.^[5]
5. (future and aorist, causative) To kill, destroy; to overturn the decrees of fate.^[5][2]

Word family

• φθινύθω (phthinúthō)
• φθίσις (phthísis)
• ἄφθιτος (áphthitos)
• φθινάς (phthinás)

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 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
3. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge