ἐσθίω
Pronunciation
- 5th-century BC Attic: /es.tʰí.ɔː/[1]
- 4th-century AD Koine: /esˈθi.o/[1]
- 10th-century Byzantine: /esˈθi.o/[1]
Forms
ἐσθῐ́ω (esthíō) [1]
Etymology
It is a Greek new present from Ancient Greek ἔδω (édō, “to eat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”).[2] Schwyzer derived the presents ἔσθω (ésthō) and ἐσθίω from the old imperative ἔσθι (ésthi), while Hamp derived the shorter form from *ἔδθω (*édthō).[2][1][3] The verb is suppletive: its future ἔδομαι (édomai) and perfect ἐδήδοκα (edḗdoka) belong to the older verb, and the aorist was supplied by φαγεῖν (phageîn).[2][4][5]
The old athematic present of the root is matched by Hittite ēdmi (“I eat”), Latin ēst, Lithuanian ė́sti and Old Church Slavonic forms.[2][6]
Earliest recorded meaning
Homer has the shorter present and, in the Odyssey, ἐσθίω, of gods, men and animals eating food or flesh.[2][5]
Semantic evolution
In the Odyssey it is also used of the suitors devouring a household's goods, and in the Iliad of fire consuming the dead.[5][4] Aeschylus uses it of an eating sore, Theophrastus of decayed teeth.[4] In Aristophanes “to eat oneself” is to fret, and to “eat one's lip” is to bite it in anger.[4][5]
The present remained in use in Koine: the Septuagint and the New Testament have ἐσθίω and ἔσθω beside the aorist ἔφαγον and the future φάγομαι.[7] In Modern Greek the everyday verb is Modern Greek τρώω (tróo), from Hellenistic τρώγω (trṓgō), but its aorist έφαγα continues φαγεῖν.[8]
Timeline
- Homer – The Odyssey uses ἐσθίω; the Iliad uses it of fire devouring the dead.[2][5][4]
- Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days has the imperfect ἤσθιον.[4][9]
- 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses “to eat oneself” for fretting.[4]
- 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses the passive of decayed teeth.[4]
- 1st century AD – The Gospels use it of eating and of sharing a meal.[7]
Meanings
Verb
- To eat, of gods, people and animals.[4][5]
- To consume or devour a household's goods.[5]
- (figurative) Of fire, to devour; of a sore, to eat away; passive, of teeth, to decay.[4][5]
- To fret or vex oneself; to bite one's lip in anger.[4][5]
- To take into the mouth.[4]
Word family
- ἀπεσθίω (apesthíō)
- διεσθίω (diesthíō)
- ἐπεσθίω (epesthíō)
- κατεσθίω (katesthíō)
- παρεσθίω (paresthíō)
- συνεσθίω (sunesthíō)
- ἀνεσθίω (anesthíō)
- ἐξεσθίω (exesthíō)
- περιεσθίω (periesthíō)
- προεσθίω (proesthíō)
Related words
- ἔδεσμα (édesma)
- ἐδεστής (edestḗs)
- ἐδεστός (edestós)
- ἐδητύς (edētū́s)
- νῆστις (nêstis)
- ἔδω (édō)
- φαγεῖν (phageîn)
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f 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
- ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux