ἄβαξ

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /á.baks/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈa.βaks/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈa.vaks/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓́βᾰξ (ábax) m (genitive ᾰ̓́βᾰκος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3][4] The derivation from Hebrew אָבָק (ʾāḇāq, “dust”), through a board strewn with dust for drawing, is semantically weak and rejected by Frisk, Masson and Beekes, though Kratzsch defends it.^[2][3][5][6] Kuiper compared Laconian ἀμάκιον “abacus” (Hesychius); if that is right, the variation β/μ makes the word Pre-Greek.^[2]

It was borrowed as Latin abacus, the source of English abacus (late 14th century).^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cratinus uses it for a trencher or serving plate.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians describes the reckoning-board on which jurors' votes were counted, with as many holes as there were ballots.^[8][4] Inscriptions from Delphi and Delos use it for a board for accounts, a wooden board and a marble offering table, and Carystius for a dice-board.^[4][7] Sextus Empiricus and Iamblichus mention the board strewn with sand on which geometers drew their figures.^[7][4]

In Latin abacus was also the slab on top of a column's capital and a marble wall panel (Vitruvius).^[7][4] Modern Greek uses the form άβακας (ávakas).^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Cratinus uses it of a plate.^[7][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the board for counting jurors' votes.^[8][4]
• 2nd century BC – Carystius uses it of a dice-board.^[7][4]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Sextus Empiricus mentions the geometers' sand board.^[7][4]
• Late 14th century – English abacus.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slab, board; a sideboard.^[7][10]
2. A reckoning-board, abacus, for counting votes or keeping accounts.^[7][8][4]
3. A board strewn with sand for drawing geometrical figures.^[7][4]
4. A dice-board.^[7]
5. A trencher, serving plate.^[7][4]
6. A marble offering table.^[4]

Word family

• ἀβακίσκος (abakískos)
• ἀβάκιον (abákion)

Related words

• Latin abacus
• English abacus

Usage notes

Ammonius distinguishes ἄβαξ, a board on which things are set out, from the diminutive ἀβάκιον (abákion), a board for reckoning.^[10] A different ἄβαξ, “speechless, silent”, is recorded by the lexicographers.^[4][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ a b [Ammonius], De adfinium vocabulorum differentia, ed. K. Nickau (Leipzig: Teubner, 1966)
11. ^ Rosół, Rafał, ed., Lexicon of Oriental Words in Ancient Greek, https://orientalwordsingreek.org