ἐρέπτομαι

Forms

ἐρέπτομαι (eréptomai) ^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)rep- (“to tear off, pluck”), with a present suffix; its proper sense is “to tear away, snatch”.^[2][3] It resembles Lithuanian ap-rė́pti (“to take, catch”) and Albanian rjep (“to tear off, rob”), and Latin rapiō (“to snatch”), with another vowel.^[2][1][3] It has also been compared with ἁρπάζω (harpázō).^[2] The compound ἀνηρέψαντο (anērépsanto) “they snatched up” is read so after Fick's correction of the manuscripts.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Homeric word, found only in the participle: of horses munching lotus and white barley (Iliad 2.776, 5.196), of fish gnawing the fat of a corpse (21.204), of birds pecking up wheat (Odyssey 19.553), and of the Lotus-eaters (9.97).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It remained an epic verb.^[5][6] Aristophanes uses it in mock-epic style of a man who feeds on what belongs to others (Knights 1295).^[5][6] The Palatine Anthology still uses it of eating lotus and grapes.^[5] Nonnus has an active ἐρέπτω “to eat”, and Hesychius records an active in the causative sense “to feed”.^[5][7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the participle of animals and men feeding.^[4][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it in mock-epic style.^[5][6][8]
• 4th–5th century AD – Nonnus uses an active form, “to eat”.^[5][8]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius records the active in the sense “to feed”.^[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of animals) To feed on, munch plants or grain.^[6][4] (Of birds) To peck up.^[6][4][5]
2. (of fish) To gnaw away.^[4][6]
3. (of people) To pluck and eat (the lotus).^[6][5]
4. (comic) To devour other people's food.^[6][5]
5. (active, late) To eat; to feed, nourish.^[5]

Word family

• ἀνερέπτομαι (aneréptomai)

Related words

• Latin rapiō

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. ^ a b c Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge