χόνδρος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kʰón.dros/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈxon.dros/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈxon.dros/^[1]

Forms

χόνδρος (khóndros) m (genitive χόνδρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is not explained.^[2][3] Since Prellwitz it has usually been connected with a verb “to rub, grind”, as in Old English grindan (“to grind”), Lithuanian grę́sti (“to scrape, scour”) and Latin frendō (“to gnash, crush”), from *gʰrend-, with dissimilation from *χρόνδρος.^[3][1] LSJ follows this view.^[3][1][4]

Beekes objects that Greek excludes an initial labiovelar while Latin seems to require one, and that Germanic -d- and the Lithuanian acute do not fit the Greek δ.^[2][1][5] Alternatively it may come by dissimilation from *χόρδ-ρος, related to χέραδος (khérados) “silt, gravel” and χαράδρα (kharádra) “gorge, torrent”, in which case the word would not be Indo-European.^[2][3][1] Adams instead connects it with Tocharian B kanti, Hittite kant- and Iranian words for wheat such as Persian گندم (gandum).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stesichorus has it for barley-groats, and Herodotus for blocks of salt, and houses built of them.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In comedy it is groats of wheat or spelt cooked as a dish (Aristophanes, Pherecrates), and Aristotle and Polybius use it for groats and grains of salt; it also named lumps of frankincense gum (Theophrastus, Lucian).^[4][6]

In medicine it is cartilage, especially of the breastbone (Hippocrates), of the ear (Aristotle) and of the nose and windpipe (Pollux), and Aelian uses it of the young horns of deer.^[4][2] The compound ὑποχόνδριον (hupokhóndrion), the region under the cartilage of the breastbone (Hippocrates, Aristotle), is the source of English hypochondria, from the ancient belief that the organs there were the seat of melancholy.^[2][5]

The adjective χονδρός (khondrós) “granular, coarse” later meant coarse in general, like Latin grossus.^[4][1] Modern Greek has a learned χονδρός beside χοντρός.^[4][1][7] Modern Greek χόνδρος (chóndros) is a learned word for cartilage, and English chondro- comes from the Latinized form of the Greek word.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Stesichorus uses it for barley-groats.^[6][4][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes blocks of salt.^[4][6][8]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it for the cartilage of the breastbone.^[4][2][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the cartilage of the ear.^[4][8]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for grains of salt.^[6][8]
• 1816 – English hypochondria in its modern sense.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grain or lump of salt; rock salt.^[6][4]
2. Groats of wheat, spelt or barley, cooked as a dish.^[6][4]
3. A lump of frankincense gum.^[4]
4. (anatomy) Cartilage, especially of the breastbone.^[4][2]
5. The young horns of deer.^[4]

Word family

• χονδρός (khondrós)
• ἄχονδρος (ákhondros)
• χονδρίλη (khondrī́lē)
• χόνδρινος (khóndrinos)
• ὑποχόνδριον (hupokhóndrion)
• χονδρίον (khondríon)

Related words

• English hypochondria
• English chondro-

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 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. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge