Etymologically
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ἀστήρ

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /as.tɛ̌ːr/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /asˈtir/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /asˈtir/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓στήρ (astḗr) m (genitive ᾰ̓στέρος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *astḗr, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”).[1][2] Beekes calls the reconstruction straightforward: an old noun with nominative *h₂stēr, accusative *h₂ster-m, genitive *h₂str-os.[2] The plural is mostly ἄστρα (ástra), from which a new singular ἄστρον (ástron) was made.[2][3]

Cognate with Hittite ḫasterza (“star”), Old Armenian աստղ (astł, “star”), Old Irish ser (“star”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō, “star”), Tocharian B ścirye (“star”), Sanskrit तारा (tā́rā, “star”) and Latin stēlla (“star”).[2][1] Beekes thinks a connection with *h₂eh₁s- (“to burn”) quite probable.[2] A derivation from the Babylonian goddess name Akkadian Ištar is highly improbable because of the initial laryngeal, and Rosół lists it among rejected Semitic etymologies.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for stars and for a shooting star sent as a sign (Iliad 4.75); a child is “like a lovely star” (Iliad 6.401).[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It names particular stars: Sirius in the Iliad and Hesiod, Venus from Homer on, Arcturus in Hesiod, and meteors and comets in Aristophanes and Plato.[7][5] Euripides uses it for the light of a beacon and for an illustrious person, and Herodotus and Plutarch for a golden star-shaped ornament.[7] It also meant a starfish and a kind of songbird.[1] The Revelation of John has “a great star” falling from heaven (8:10).[6]

Latin borrowed it as astēr.[1] Medieval Greek kept αστήρ,[8] and Modern Greek has αστέρι and άστρο.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for stars and a shooting star.[5][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod names Sirius and Arcturus.[5][6]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a star-shaped ornament.[7][6]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for an illustrious person.[7][6]
  • 1st century AD – Revelation has a great star falling.[6]
  • Modern Greek – αστέρι and άστρο mean star.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A star, planet or other heavenly body.[5][1]
  2. A shooting star, meteor; a comet.[5][7]
  3. A light, flame.[5][7]
  4. (figurative) An illustrious person.[7][5]
  5. A star-shaped ornament.[7]
  6. A starfish; a kind of songbird.[1]

Word family

  • ἀστέριος (astérios)
  • ἀστερόεις (asteróeis)
  • ἄναστρος (ánastros)
  • ἀστερίσκος (asterískos)
  • ἔναστρος (énastros)

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 e f 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org