χειρουργός

Forms

χειρουργός (kheirourgós) m (genitive χειρουργοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”), literally “working with the hand”, with ⟨οε⟩ contracted to ⟨ου⟩ as in δημιουργός (dēmiourgós).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plutarch is the first to use it, both as an adjective meaning working or acting with the hands and as a noun for a surgeon.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was used of anyone who practised a craft or art with his hands, and Aelian calls practising artists and craftsmen by this name.^[4][3][6] The medical sense “surgeon” was helped by the older verb χειρουργέω (kheirourgéō), which already meant “to operate” in Hippocrates, and it was established in Hellenistic Greek: Galen distinguishes the surgeon from the physician who heals with drugs and the eye doctor.^[2][4] Diogenes Laertius uses it in an obscene sense.^[6]

The related noun χειρουργία (kheirourgíā) was borrowed as Latin chirurgia, the source through Old French of the English word surgery.^[7]

Modern Greek has it as χειρουργός (cheirourgós) and, with the stress moved as in Latin and Italian chirurgo, as χειρούργος, a surgeon.^[8][2]

Timeline

• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a person working with his hands and for a surgeon.^[4][9]
• 2nd century AD – Galen and Ptolemy use it for the surgeon as a kind of physician.^[4][2][9]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it for practising artists and craftsmen.^[4][3][9]
• 4th century AD – Libanius speaks of manual arts with the adjective.^[4][9]
• Modern Greek – It is the word for a surgeon, also stressed χειρούργος.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Working or acting with the hands; practising a handicraft or an art.^[4][3]

Noun

1. A surgeon.^[4][3][6]
2. (plural) Practising artists and craftsmen.^[4][3]

Word family

• χειρουργέω (kheirourgéō)

Related words

• χειρουργία (kheirourgíā)
• χείρ (kheír)
• ἔργον (érgon)
• Latin chirurgia
• English surgery

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e f g Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge