ἄντρον

Forms

ᾰ̓́ντρον (ántron) n (genitive ᾰ̓́ντρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it a Pre-Greek substrate word, following Chantraine's earlier view, because none of the Indo-European explanations works.^[2][1] De Lamberterie derived it, together with Old Armenian այր (ayr, “grotto”), from a form *antēr, but Clackson showed that this is impossible.^[2] A connection with ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”), which the DGE and Babiniotis allow, fails because that root is disyllabic, *h₂enh₁-.^[2][3][4] Beekes also rejects Giannakis's *anti-trh₂-om, from the root *terh₂- “to cross”.^[2]

Ancient grammarians explained it as “that which is pierced through”, or connected it with ἀνθηρός (anthērós, “flowery”), as the home of the meadow nymphs, or with ἄντομαι (ántomai, “to entreat”), because people prayed to the gods in caves.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it occurs only in the Odyssey, meaning a cave or cavern.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It remained a poetic word: Hesiod, Pindar and the tragedians use it, Aeschylus of a lion's den and Euripides of a serpent's lair.^[6][9] The Septuagint uses it for an inner chamber.^[6]

Latin borrowed it as antrum.^[2][10] Modern Greek άντρο (ándro) is learned: “cave” continues the ancient word, while the figurative sense, a den of criminals or a place of vice, follows French antre, itself from Latin antrum.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for a cave.^[7][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony.^[6][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of a lion's den.^[6]
• 9th century AD – The Epimerismi Homerici offer three derivations of it.^[5]
• Modern Greek – The learned άντρο (ándro) means a cave and, after French, a den of criminals.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cave, a cavern; the den or lair of an animal.^[6][9]
2. (Septuagint) An inner chamber.^[6]

Related words

• Latin antrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki