ἐπιτομή

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /e.pi.to.mɛ̌ː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /e.pi.toˈmi/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /e.pi.toˈmi/^[1]

Forms

ἐπῐτομή (epitomḗ) f (genitive ἐπῐτομῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἐπιτέμνω (epitémnō, “to cut on the surface; to cut short”) with the suffix -ή (-ḗ).^[1][2][3] The verb is formed from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) and τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschines uses it for a cut on the head, and the Aristotelian Problems for an abridgement of natural science.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, an incision, is rare; from “cutting short” came its usual meaning, an abridgement or summary.^[2][3] Epicurus pairs it with στοιχείωσις, “elementary outline”, and it was the title of works by Chrysippus and other Stoics.^[2] Dionysius of Halicarnassus speaks of summary epitomes of history.^[2] The Second Book of Maccabees uses it for a summary, and Cicero uses ἐν ἐπιτομῇ for “briefly”.^[5][2] Plutarch uses it for the abridgement of a historical work.^[3]

Latin borrowed it as epitomē.^[1] Modern Greek επιτομή (epitomí) is a learned word for a book that abridges a longer one.^[6]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aeschines uses it for an incision.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – The Aristotelian Problems use it for an abridgement.^[2]
• 2nd–1st century BC – The Second Book of Maccabees uses it for a summary.^[5]
• 1st century BC – Cicero uses ἐν ἐπιτομῇ “briefly”.^[2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for an abridged history.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cut on the surface, incision.^[2][3]
2. An epitome, abridgement, summary.^[2][3]

Related words

• ἐπιτέμνω (epitémnō)
• τέμνω (témnō)
• τομή (tomḗ)
• Latin epitome
• English epitome

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
6. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki