ἐρημίτης

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /e.rɛː.mǐː.tɛːs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /e.riˈmi.tis/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /e.riˈmi.tis/^[1]

Forms

ἐρημῑ́της (erēmī́tēs) m^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἔρημος (érēmos, “desolate; desert”) with the suffix -ίτης (-ítēs).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Septuagint uses it once, in Job, as an adjective, “of the desert”, of the wild ass.^[3][4] Lust calls it a new word.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Byzantine Greek it became a noun for a desert-dweller, a hermit, since such ascetics withdrew to the desert for religious reasons.^[1][2] Late Latin borrowed it as erēmīta, the source of French ermite.^[1][2] Modern Greek ερημίτης (erimítis) is an anchorite, and, after French, a recluse who avoids other people.^[2]

Timeline

• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for “of the desert”.^[3][4]
• Byzantine period – It is used for a hermit.^[1]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the desert, living in the desert.^[4][1]

Noun

1. (Byzantine) A desert-dweller, a hermit.^[1][2]

Related words

• ἔρημος (érēmos)
• Latin eremita
• English hermit

References

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