ἐρετμόν

Forms

ἐρετμόν (eretmón) n (genitive ἐρετμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an instrument noun formed from Ancient Greek ἐρέσσω (eréssō, “to row”) + -μόν (-món), beside ἐρέτης (erétēs, “rower”).^[1][2][3] They come from the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₁- (“to row”).^[2] Beekes notes that the form recalls both Sanskrit अरित्र (arítra-, “oar”) and Lithuanian ìrklas (“oar”), from *h₁rh₁-tlo-, and Latin rēmus (“oar”), which may have the suffix *-smo-.^[2] Other words from the root are Old Norse róa (“to row”) and Old Irish imm·rá (“rows, sails”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it from the first book of the Iliad, where a ship is rowed forward with oars; the Odyssey speaks of the “well-fitted oar”.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It was the poetic word for an oar, beside the prose word κώπη (kṓpē).^[5] In the Odyssey an oar is fixed on a tomb.^[5] Pindar, Euripides and an oracle quoted by Herodotus kept it, and Aeschylus called the wings of birds “oars of wings”.^[5][6] Hesychius records it as a slang word for the male member, and a feminine ἐρετμά (eretmá) in the plural.^[5] The verb ἐρετμόω (eretmóō, “to fit with oars”) was formed from it.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a ship's oar.^[3][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus speaks of “oars of wings”, and Herodotus quotes an oracle that has the word.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it in lyric passages.^[5][6]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius records a slang meaning.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oar.^[5][6][3]
2. (figurative) The wing of a bird, as “oar of wings”.^[5]
3. (slang) The male member.^[5]

Related words

• ἐρέτης (erétēs)
• ἐρέσσω (eréssō)
• τριήρης (triḗrēs)
• Latin rēmus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press