φράσσω

Forms

φρᾰ́σσω (phrássō) ^[1] Attic φράττω (phráttō); also φράγνυμι (phrágnumi); aorist ἔφραξα, Attic ἔφαρξα in Aeschylus, Thucydides, Aristophanes and fifth-century inscriptions.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[4][3] The attested forms point to a root φρακ- (phrak-) beside φαρκ- (phark-) (Attic aorist φάρξαι (phárxai)), and Beekes, finding no convincing cognate outside Greek, suggests that the variation is due to a substrate (Pre-Greek).^[4] The traditional comparison with Latin farciō (“to stuff, cram”) and Latin frequēns (“crowded”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrekʷ- (“to crowd together”), is semantically doubtful, because φράσσω always means to keep something from getting in.^[4][1][3]

Van Beek prefers an Indo-European origin from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise; elevation, stronghold”), proposed by Puhvel, who compared Hittite parkii̯a- (“to fence off”).^[3][5] He does not take the verb as an old present: φράσσω is a factitive “to fortify”, built on pairs such as πεφραγμένος (pephragménos, “fortified”) and ἄφρακτος (áphraktos, “unfortified”), from a root noun *bʰr̥ǵʰ- (“stronghold”).^[3] In this view the stem with -αρ-, from syllabic /r̥/, is the older Attic form, and the one with -ρα- spread later in Attic and the Koine.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a military word: warriors fence themselves with shields, shield on shield and spear on spear, and fence the beached ships; in the Odyssey a boat's sides are fenced with twigs.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

After Homer its most frequent meaning is to block or stop up, especially roads and passages, as in Herodotus and Thucydides; it is also to fortify a city or wall in a piece of land.^[3][2][6] In nautical language the middle means to raise the deck-boards.^[3] In the New Testament it is to shut the mouths of lions and, figuratively, to stop a mouth so that the person must be silent.^[7] The present stem is rare: Herodotus has φράσσω once, Attic φράττω appears in Xenophon and Plato, and Thucydides, Sophocles and Aristophanes use φράγνυμι.^[3] In Medieval Greek a new present Modern Greek φράζω (frázo) to block was made from the aorist stem φραξ-; φράσσω (fráso) is a learned form of it.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – to fence with shields, to fence the ships.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for blocking a road.^[6][3][9]
• 5th century BC – Attic inscriptions have the aorist φάρξαι.^[3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Attic φράττω appears in Xenophon and Plato.^[3][9]
• 1st century AD – the New Testament uses it for stopping mouths.^[7]
• Medieval Greek – the new present φράζω.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a barrier of shields or spears; middle and passive, to fence oneself behind shields.^[2]
2. To protect with a barrier, barricade, fence in; middle, to secure oneself; to fortify.^[2][6]
3. To block, stop up a road or passage.^[6][3]
4. In other contexts, to fence a boat or pit, wall in land.^[2]
5. To protect the body with armour.^[2]
6. (New Testament) To shut, stop mouths.^[7]

Word family

• ἄφαρκτος (ápharktos)
• ἄφρακτος (áphraktos)
• ἐμφράσσω (emphrássō)
• περιφράσσω (periphrássō)
• συμφράσσω (sumphrássō)
• φράγμα (phrágma)
• φραγμός (phragmós)
• ἀντιφράσσω (antiphrássō)
• ἀποφράσσω (apophrássō)
• διαφραγμάτιον (diaphragmátion)
• φάρχμα (phárkhma)
• φράκτης (phráktēs)
• φράξις (phráxis)

Related words

• πύργος (púrgos)
• Latin farciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek: Linguistic Prehistory of the Greek Dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge