ἐρέβινθος

Forms

ἐρέβῐνθος (erébinthos) m (genitive ἐρεβῐ́νθου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a Pre-Greek word, related to ὄροβος (órobos, “bitter vetch”) but with the foreign suffix -ινθος (-inthos).^[2][3][4][5] Further related are Latin ervum (“a kind of vetch”) and some Celtic and Germanic words for the pea and similar plants, such as Old High German araweiz (“pea”) and Middle Irish orbaind (“grains”).^[2][4][1] Beekes thinks the word may come from the eastern Mediterranean, and Babiniotis likewise takes it as a loan from a Mediterranean or Anatolian language, from which the related words of other languages came too.^[2][5] Sanskrit अरविन्द (aravinda-, “lotus flower”) does not belong here.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only Homeric use is in the Iliad, where arrows bounce off a breastplate like beans or chickpeas leaping from a winnowing shovel.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Chickpeas were eaten as a dessert, in Xenophanes and Aristophanes, and Plato mentions them too.^[6] Sappho speaks of “golden chickpeas”.^[6][8] Aristophanes uses them as the type of something worthless, and as a slang word for the penis.^[8][6] A special variety was called the “ram chickpea”, from the shape of its seed.^[6]

The diminutive ἐρεβίνθιον (erebínthion), found in papyri, became Medieval Greek ρεβίθι, and today's Modern Greek ρεβίθι (revíthi) for the chickpea comes from it, while Modern Greek ερέβινθος (erévinthos) survives as a learned word.^[9][4][5] Medieval vernacular texts use both ερέβινθος and the shortened ρέβιθος.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad compares arrows bouncing off armour to chickpeas leaping from a winnowing shovel.^[7][6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho mentions “golden chickpeas”.^[6][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Xenophanes mentions chickpeas eaten as a dessert.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of something worthless and as slang for the penis.^[8][6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes the “ram” variety.^[6]
• Modern Greek – The diminutive survives as Modern Greek ρεβίθι (revíthi), the everyday word for the chickpea.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The chickpea, Cicer arietinum; also collectively.^[6][8]
2. (comedy) Something worthless.^[8]
3. (comedy, slang) The penis.^[6][8]

Word family

• ἐρεβίνθιον (erebínthion)
• ἐρεβινθώδης (erebinthṓdēs)

Related words

• ὄροβος (órobos)
• Latin ervum

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux