χάσκω

Forms

χᾰ́σκω (kháskō) ^[1] Aorist ἔχανον (ékhanon), perfect with present sense κέχηνα (kékhēna), future χανοῦμαι (khanoûmai).^[2][3]

Etymology

In Beekes's view it is an old present with the suffix -σκω (-skō): it is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʰan- (“to gape”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂n- (“to yawn, gape”).^[4][1] The aorist χανεῖν (khaneîn) and the perfect κέχηνα (kékhēna) are old too, while the present χαίνω (khaínō) and the future χανοῦμαι (khanoûmai) are later formations.^[4][2] Wiktionary follows Rix's LIV in this derivation.^[5][1]

Beekes compares Old Norse gan (“opening of the mouth”) and gana (“to gape”).^[4] Another root of the same meaning, *ǵʰeh₁y-, is found in Latin hiō and hīscō, Lithuanian žióti and Old High German ginēn,^[4] and Wiktionary notes that χάσκω is often derived from it, despite the phonetic difficulties.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses only the aorist and the perfect: in the Iliad a speaker wishes that the wide earth would gape open for him, and a wounded man lies gaping.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the earth gapes to swallow someone, and a drowning man gapes at the waves.^[3] From the open mouth of the wounded, of a lion baring its teeth or a horse taking the bit, the verb came to mean gaping in wonder or eagerness: Solon, Hipponax and Anacreon use it of open-mouthed gaping, and in comedy it is the foolish gape of the expectant.^[3][2] Aristophanes' perfect κέχηνα, "I am agape", is the gawping of an idle listener.^[3]

The present χάσκω is classical; χαίνω (khaínō) appears only in late writers.^[2] The same root gave χάσμα (khásma) "chasm" and χάος (kháos).^[4][7] Modern Greek still has χάσκω (chásko), only in the present, meaning to stare open-mouthed or to gape open, a sense Triantafyllidis dates from medieval Greek.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the aorist of the earth gaping and of a gaping man.^[2][9]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon uses the present participle.^[2][3]
• 6th century BC – Anacreon uses it of gaping after a girl.^[3][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the crocodile opening its mouth.^[3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the perfect of gawping fools.^[3][2]
• Modern Greek – χάσκω (chásko) means to stare agape or to gape open.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Of the earth, a wound) to gape open.^[3][2]
2. To open the mouth wide, as a wounded man does, or an animal baring its teeth; to yawn.^[3]
3. To gape, gawp, in wonder, simplicity or eager expectation; perfect: to be agape.^[3][2]

Word family

• χασκάζω (khaskázō)
• χάσμα (khásma)
• χασμάομαι (khasmáomai)
• χάσμη (khásmē)
• χάσμημα (khásmēma)
• χάσις (khásis)
• χάσκανον (kháskanon)
• χάσκαξ (kháskax)
• χασκωρέω (khaskōréō)
• χασμαθυπουργός (khasmathupourgós)
• χασμωδία (khasmōdíā)
• κεχηνώδης (kekhēnṓdēs)

Related words

• χαίνω (khaínō)
• χάος (kháos)
• Latin hiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux