Etymologically
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ἁρπάζω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /har.páz.dɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /arˈpa.zo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /arˈpa.zo/[1]

Forms

ἁρπάζω (harpázō) [1]

Etymology

Beekes and Frisk take it to be a denominative verb from a stem ἁρπαγ- (harpag-), seen in ἅρπαξ (hárpax, “robbery; robber”), ἁρπαγή (harpagḗ, “robbery”) and ἅρπαγος (hárpagos, “hook”).[2][3] That stem may contain a shorter ἁρπ- (harp-), found in ἅρπη (hárpē, “sickle; a bird of prey”), and the word for the sickle is traced to Proto-Indo-European *serp- (“to cut, prune”), as in Latin sarpō (“to prune”) and Hittite šarpa- (“a farming tool”).[2][1]

Beekes doubts this: the suffix -αγ- cannot be explained in Indo-European terms and is typical of substrate words, and the zero grade *sr̥p- would have given ῥαπ- (rhap-); he leaves open a Pre-Greek origin.[2] Wiktionary also mentions a proposed root Proto-Indo-European *h₁rep- (“to snatch”), as in ἐρέπτομαι (eréptomai) and Latin rapiō (“to snatch”), and Nikolaev's explanation of -αγ- from *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”).[1] A connection with ἅρπυια (hárpuia, “Harpy”) is less likely and may rest on folk etymology.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to snatch up or away: a lion snatches an ox from the herd, a storm wind carries men off to sea.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it of plunder, and Herodotus of the abduction of women.[5][7] In Attic the future is usually the middle ἁρπάσομαι.[6] Classical writers use it for seizing anything quickly, a spear, the reins, an opportunity or an idea, for arrest and capture, and for robbery and plunder in war.[7][5] Callimachus and Apollonius use it of a sight that captivates the eyes, Plutarch of a person, and Aeschylus and Aristophanes of fear or anger that overpowers.[7]

In the Septuagint it is the wild beast carrying off its prey.[8][9] The New Testament uses it for seizing the kingdom by force and, in the passive, for being caught up and carried away.[10][9] Latin harpagō “grappling hook” was borrowed from a related noun.[2][3] Medieval vernacular Greek has Byzantine Greek αρπάζω (arpázo) and αρπάσσω (arpásso),[11] and Modern Greek αρπάζω (arpázo) still means to snatch or grab, and in the passive to come to blows.[12]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for snatching up or carrying off.[4][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of plunder.[5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of carrying off women.[7]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of plunder in war.[7]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the Attic future middle.[6]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of captivating the eyes.[7]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of captivating a person.[7]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek αρπάζω (arpázo) means to snatch or grab.[12]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To snatch up or away, carry off.[6][7][4]
  2. To grab, seize hold of; to arrest; to capture (a place).[7]
  3. Of beasts and birds of prey, winds and waves: to carry off.[7][5]
  4. To abduct, kidnap.[7]
  5. To rob, steal; to plunder.[7][5]
  6. To seize eagerly (an opportunity, an idea).[7]
  7. (figurative) To captivate; of emotions, to overpower.[7]
  8. (New Testament, passive) To be caught up, carried away.[9][10]

Word family

  • ἀναρπάζω (anarpázō)
  • ἀφαρπάζω (apharpázō)
  • διαρπάζω (diarpázō)
  • εἰσαρπάζω (eisarpázō)
  • ἐξαρπάζω (exharpázō)
  • καθαρπάζω (katharpázō)
  • προαρπάζω (proarpázō)
  • συναρπάζω (sunarpázō)
  • ὑφαρπάζω (hupharpázō)
  • ἐφαρπάζω (epharpázō)
  • παραρπάζω (pararpázō)
  • ὑπεραρπάζομαι (huperarpázomai)
  • ἁρπακτήρ (harpaktḗr)
  • ἅρπαγμα (hárpagma)
  • ἁρπαγμός (harpagmós)
  • ἁρπάγδην (harpágdēn)
  • ἁρπάγη (harpágē)
  • ἁρπαγή (harpagḗ)
  • ἁρπάγιμος (harpágimos)
  • ἁρπακτός (harpaktós)
  • ἁρπαλέος (harpaléos)
  • ἅρπαξ (hárpax)
  • ἅρπη (hárpē)
  • ἅρπυια (hárpuia)
  • Latin harpagō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ a b c d e 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 l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
  11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki