ἀπόστροφος

Forms

ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos) m or f (neuter ἀπόστροφον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a verbal adjective from Ancient Greek ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”),^[1] which is ἀπο- (apo-, “away”) with στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).^[1][2] The feminine noun for the mark of elision stands for “the turning-away (accent)”, with προσῳδία (prosōidía) understood.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use is in Sophocles' Ajax, where Athena says she will keep the hero's eyes turned away, so that he does not see Odysseus.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant "turned away, averted", in Sophocles of a man's eyes, and in the astrologers Manetho and Vettius Valens of planets turned away from the moon or not in conjunction with it.^[4][6] An Orphic hymn uses it of the Erinyes in the active sense "to be turned from, dreadful", and in the Byzantine period it meant "repulsive, horrible".^[4][6][1]

As a feminine noun it was a technical term: in the theory of comedy, the chorus's turning towards the audience in the parabasis; in rhetoric, an apostrophe addressed to someone; and in grammar the mark of elision, which Zonaras explains as a sign that bends inwards and downwards.^[6][4][7] The Latin grammarians Diomedes, Donatus and Priscian took it over as Latin apostrophus, which passed through French into English as apostrophe for the mark (1580s) and for the figure of speech (1530s).^[6][1][2] It was calqued as Old Armenian ապաթարց (apatʻarcʻ).^[1] Modern Greek απόστροφος (apóstrofos) is the learned Hellenistic noun, made masculine like other nouns in -ος in the spoken language.^[3]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of eyes turned away by a god.^[4][5][6]
• 2nd century AD – Vettius Valens uses it in astrology of a planet not in conjunction with the moon.^[4][6]
• 4th century AD – The Latin grammarians Diomedes and Donatus use the borrowed word for the mark of elision.^[6]
• 4th century AD – Manetho uses it of planets turned away from the moon.^[4][6]
• 6th century AD – John Lydus uses the adverb of a comet rising turned away.^[4][6]
• 1530s – English borrows apostrophe for the figure of speech, and in the 1580s for the mark.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Turned away, averted.^[4][5][6]
2. (astrology) Not in conjunction with the moon.^[4][6]
3. To be turned from, dreadful, of the Erinyes, and (Byzantine) repulsive.^[4][6][1]

Noun

1. (comedy) The chorus's turning towards the audience in the parabasis.^[4][6]
2. (rhetoric) An apostrophe.^[4][6]
3. (grammar) The mark of elision.^[4][6][7]

Related words

• ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō)
• ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ)
• στρέφω (stréphō)
• Latin apostrophus
• English apostrophe

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius