ἐρίπνη

Forms

ἐρῐ́πνη (erípnē) f (genitive ἐρῐ́πνης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἐρείπω (ereípō, “to throw down, fall”), built on the zero grade of the root, as in the aorist ἐριπεῖν (eripeîn), with the suffix seen in κρημνός (krēmnós) and κραιπνός (kraipnós).^[2][3][4] Frisk glosses it as a fall or slope.^[3]

The verb is compared with Old Norse rífa (“to tear down”), and its verbal noun with Latin rīpa (“steep bank, shore”), which is close to ἐρίπνη in meaning.^[2][3][5] Beekes reconstructs the root, with hesitation, as Proto-Indo-European *h₁reip- (“to throw down”).^[2][6]

The Etymologicum Magnum derived it from a verb for falling, the cliff being the place where the mountain slopes away and falls.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in a fragment of Pindar, and then in Euripides' Electra, in the plural, of broken cliffs and crags.^[4][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to lyric and epic poetry: Euripides uses it of crags and, figuratively, of the steep heights of battlements in the Phoenician Women, and Apollonius Rhodius of the cliffs along the Argonauts' route.^[8][4] Nicander has it in the singular.^[8] Later prose uses it rarely, as Aelian does.^[9]

Hesychius glosses it as a summit, a headland and a precipice.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it in a fragment.^[4]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of crags in the Electra and of the heights of battlements in the Phoenician Women.^[8][4][9]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius Rhodius uses it of cliffs in the Argonautica.^[8][9]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander uses it in the singular.^[8]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as summit, headland and precipice.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A broken cliff, a crag, usually in the plural.^[8][4]
2. (figurative) Any sheer height, as of battlements.^[8][4]

Related words

• ἐρείπω (ereípō)
• ἐρείπιον (ereípion)
• Latin rīpa

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)