ἄρτος

Forms

ᾰ̓́ρτος (ártos) m (genitive ᾰ̓́ρτου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ártos, of unknown further origin.^[1][2] Mycenaean already has it in the compound Mycenaean Greek a-to-po-qo (“baker”).^[1][3] Several explanations have been proposed, none of them established:^[4][5]

• a derivative of the root of ἀραρίσκω (ararískō, “to fit, prepare”), as Prellwitz thought;^[4] Beekes calls it improbable;^[4][2]
• a borrowing from Iranian, comparing Persian آرد (ârd, “flour”), as Pisani proposed;^[4][2] Beekes considers it impossible for a word already found in Mycenaean, and Chantraine improbable;^[2][4][1]
• a substrate word, with Basque arto (“maize bread”) and Old Spanish artal (“a kind of pie”), as Hubschmid thought, although the Basque word could be borrowed from Greek.^[2][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Odyssey is its first literary record: a whole loaf is taken from a basket.^[6][5][7]

Semantic evolution

In the plural it is usually a loaf of wheat bread, opposed to the barley μᾶζα (mâza), and in the singular bread in general, food or a meal, in Solon, Herodotus and Thucydides.^[6][8] In the New Testament it is the bread of the Lord's Supper and the bread offered in the sanctuary, the showbread.^[9]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word.^[10] Modern Greek άρτος (ártos) is a learned word for bread, which is everyday ψωμί, and also for the consecrated bread of the Church.^[11]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The tablets have a-to-po-qo “baker”.^[1][3]
• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for loaves of bread.^[6][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Works and Days.^[7][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for bread.^[8][7][5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the bread of the Lord's Supper.^[9]
• Modern Greek – άρτος is a learned word for bread and for church bread.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loaf of bread, usually of wheat.^[6][8]
2. Bread; by extension, food, a meal.^[8][6]
3. (New Testament) The bread of the Eucharist; the showbread of the Temple.^[9]

Word family

• ἀρτοκόπος (artokópos)
• ἀρτοποιός (artopoiós)
• ἀρτοπώλης (artopṓlēs)
• ἀρτοπώλιον (artopṓlion)
• ἀρτόπωλις (artópōlis)
• ἀρτοφαγέω (artophagéō)
• ἀρτοθήκη (artothḗkē)
• ἀρτολάγανον (artoláganon)
• ἀρτουργός (artourgós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d e 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 Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki