Etymologically
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ἐμπόριον

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /em.pó.ri.on/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /emˈpo.ri.on/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /emˈpo.ri.on/[1]

Forms

ἐμπόρῐον (empórion) n (genitive ἐμπορῐ́ου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant, traveller”) with the suffix -ιον (-ion).[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus uses it for a trading station, and mentions the officials in charge of one.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It was a place of trade, usually on the coast: Thucydides mentions trading stations on the Thracian coast and says Corinth provided a market for the Greeks.[3][4] At Athens τὸ ἐμπόριον was the exchange where merchants met.[3] Demosthenes speaks of borrowing money there.[3] An inscription from Macedonia uses it for a market centre of a district without a city, and Xenophon has the plural for merchandise.[3]

In the Septuagint it is a mart, and the Gospel of John speaks of “a house of trade”.[5][2] Latin borrowed it as emporium.[1]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a trading station.[3][4]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides mentions trading stations in Thrace.[3][4]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for the commercial harbour of Athens.[3]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospel of John speaks of “a house of trade”.[2]
  • 3rd century AD – An inscription from Macedonia uses it for a market centre.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A trading station, mart, commercial centre, often a port; an emporium.[3][6]
  2. (Athens) The commercial harbour, the exchange.[3]
  3. A market centre for a district without a city.[3][1]
  4. (plural) merchandise.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  5. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  6. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press