Etymologically
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ἀρτύω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ar.ty̌ː.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /arˈty.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /arˈty.o/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓ρτῡ́ω (artū́ō) [1]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Ancient Greek ἀρτύς (artū́s), a noun found only in Hesychius' glosses meaning “ordering” and “friendship, agreement, decision”.[2] The noun is formed with a tu-suffix from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit, join”), the root of ἀραρίσκω (ararískō, “to fit together”), and may be old.[2][1][3] Beekes compares Sanskrit ऋतु (ṛtú, “fixed time, order, rule”) and Latin artus (“joint, limb”), from the same formation *h₂r̥-tu-.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer, who has only the present and imperfect, it means to arrange or prepare something that needs skill or cunning: a smith fits the parts of a tripod, and people plot a trick or someone's death.[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus and later prose writers use it for arranging plots, marriages and other schemes.[3][4] In Attic it lives mostly in the compounds καταρτύω (katartúō) and ἐξαρτύω (exartū́ō).[4]

From the 5th century BC it is a kitchen word, “to dress or season” a dish, in Sophocles and the comic poets, and Aristotle uses it of seasoning food.[4][5][3] In the Gospels the passive is used of salt that has lost its flavour, and Colossians 4:6 speaks of speech “seasoned with salt”.[6][3] In Doric and Cretan law it meant to manage property and to bequeath it.[4][5]

The noun ἄρτυμα (ártūma) survives in Modern Greek άρτυμα (ártyma), a seasoning.[7]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for fitting the parts of a tripod, and the Odyssey for plotting.[4][3]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the aorist, the Gortyn law code uses it for managing property, and Sophocles and Cratinus use it for seasoning food.[4][5]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for seasoning dishes, and an inscription from Tegea for managing property.[4][5]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for arranging schemes.[3][6][5]
  • Modern Greek – The noun survives as άρτυμα (ártyma), a seasoning.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To arrange, prepare, make ready, especially something needing skill or cunning: a plot, a marriage, a death.[4][3]
  2. To fit together, fashion the parts of a thing.[3][5]
  3. To season food, dress a dish; in the passive, of salt, to be seasoned.[4][3][6]
  4. (Doric, Cretan) To manage property; to bequeath.[4][5]

Word family

  • ἐπαρτύω (epartúō)
  • καταρτύω (katartúō)
  • ὀψαρτύω (opsartúō)
  • ἐξαρτύω (exartū́ō)
  • ἀρθμός (arthmós)
  • ἄρτυμα (ártūma)
  • ἀρτύνω (artū́nō)
  • ἀρτύς (artū́s)
  • ἀρτυσία (artusía)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki