χαρακτήρ

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kʰa.rak.tɛ̌ːr/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /xa.rakˈtir/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /xa.rakˈtir/^[1]

Forms

χᾰρᾰκτήρ (kharaktḗr) m (genitive χᾰρᾰκτῆρος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from χαράσσω (kharássō, “to scratch, engrave”) with the agent suffix -τήρ (-tḗr).^[1][2][3] Mycenaean has a related form, Mycenaean Greek ka-ra-ka-te-ra.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Aeschylus' Suppliants (282), for the stamp of a Cypriot type on women's features.^[4][2] Euripides uses it for the bright stamp on silver coins.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was the engraver or minter (an Olbian inscription of the 3rd century BC), the graving tool, the die and the branding iron, and above all the stamp on coins and seals (Euripides, Plato, Aristotle).^[2][3] Aristotle uses it for a coin type, and Isocrates for the stamp that virtue sets on deeds.^[3][2]

From the mark it came to mean letters and written characters (Plutarch, Galen), magical symbols, and hieroglyphs as opposed to letters.^[2] Figuratively it was the distinctive mark of a person or thing: Herodotus speaks of the character of a dialect and of the features of a face.^[2] It also meant a style, and a person's character.^[1]

Latin borrowed it as character, and Coptic as well.^[5][1]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the stamp of a people's features.^[4][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the character of a dialect.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the stamp on coins.^[2][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a coin type.^[3][6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for written letters.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An engraver; a graving tool; a die, stamp.^[2][1]
2. A stamp, imprint on coins or seals; a coin type.^[3][2]
3. A letter, written character; a magical symbol.^[2][1]
4. A distinctive mark, characteristic; a feature.^[2]
5. Character, style.^[1]

Word family

• χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō)
• χαρακτηριστικός (kharaktēristikós)

Related words

• Latin character
• English character

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge