ἀσκηθής

Forms

ἀσκηθής (askēthḗs) m or f (neuter ἀσκηθές); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is apparently formed from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + *σκῆθος (*skêthos, “damage”), with the privative prefix and a neuter noun “damage” that is not found in the texts.^[2][3][1] That noun has been compared with a Germanic and Celtic group meaning “harm”, such as Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (skaþjan, “to harm”).^[4][1] Beekes rejects the comparison, because Greek ⟨θ⟩ does not match Gothic ⟨þ⟩;^[2] Frisk and Chantraine allow it only if the ⟨θ⟩ goes back to an Indo-European aspirated /tʰ/,^[4][3] and Wiktionary notes that the Gothic word is traced to Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₁t- (“damage, harm”).^[1] Beekes leaves the origin open.^[2]

Chantraine regards the word as “Achaean”, since outside epic it is found mainly in Arcadian inscriptions.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is used of people who come through danger unhurt: in the Iliad of a man coming back safe and sound, and in the Odyssey of reaching one's homeland unharmed.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

After Homer it is rare and mostly poetic: Solon, Antimachus, Callimachus and Apollonius Rhodius use it in dactylic verse.^[3][7] It also lived on in the dialects.^[3] At Tegea, in Arcadia, a 4th-century BC inscription uses it with a religious sense, of sacrificial animals without blemish, and has its opposite ἀνασκηθής in the same text;^[3][6] a healing inscription from Epidaurus says of a patient that he went out healed.^[6][7] Epicharmus has it too.^[3][6]

The Hellenistic poets extended it to things and events: Apollonius speaks of a safe return, and Antimachus calls honey pure, as if untouched.^[6][3] Timon of Phlius applies it to a god in the sense of “free from suffering”.^[6] Hesychius explains it as “healthy” and “unharmed”.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of people who come back unhurt.^[5][6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon prays that Cypris may send someone home unharmed.^[7][6]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Tegea uses it of unblemished sacrificial animals.^[6][3]
• 3rd century BC – A healing inscription from Epidaurus uses it of a patient who has recovered.^[7][6]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius Rhodius extends it to a safe return home.^[6][7]
• 4th–5th century AD – Nonnus still uses it in epic verse.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of people: unhurt, unscathed, safe and sound.^[6][5][7]
2. Healed, healthy again.^[6][7]
3. Of sacrificial animals: unblemished, without defect; of honey, pure.^[6][7]
4. Of a god: free from suffering, the same as ἀπαθής (apathḗs).^[6]
5. Of things: safe, as of a return home.^[6][7]

Usage notes

In Odyssey 14.255 the plural ἀσκηθέες is read as three syllables; the variant ἀσκεθέες is a poorer reading.^[6][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)