ἑρπετόν

Forms

ἑρπετόν (herpetón) n (genitive ἑρπετοῦ); second declension^[1] Aeolic ὄρπετον (órpeton), with the zero grade of the root.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō, “to crawl”), its verbal adjective being used as a noun.^[1][2][4] The verb continues Proto-Indo-European *serp- (“to crawl”) and is identical with Sanskrit सर्पति (sárpati, “crawls”) and Latin serpō (“to crawl”).^[2][5] Several languages made a name of the snake from this root, as in सर्प (sarpá, “snake”), serpēns and Albanian gjarpër.^[2][5] Vine thinks the zero grade of the Aeolic form is secondary.^[2]

Ancient writers derived it from ἔρα (éra, “earth”), because such animals tread on the ground, or from falling to the ground.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Odyssey speaks of all the creatures that move on the earth; the word there means any animal that goes on the ground.^[7][4][3]

Semantic evolution

In early poetry it is any creature that moves on the ground, as opposed to birds and to humans: Alcman speaks of all the creatures the dark earth feeds, Heraclitus of every creature driven to pasture by the blow, Pindar uses it of a hound and of the monster Typhon, and Semonides of a beetle.^[4][3] Sappho calls Eros a creature.^[3] Herodotus sets the ἑρπετά against winged animals, and counts snakes and lizards among them.^[4]

From Euripides on it came to mean especially a creeping thing, a reptile or a snake.^[4][8] In the Septuagint and the New Testament the reptiles are listed with four-footed beasts and birds as the classes of land animals.^[8] A papyrus of the 6th century AD uses it as an adjective, “creeping”.^[4]

Medieval vernacular Greek had it, with forms such as σερπετό (serpetó), for any living creature and for a reptile.^[9] Modern Greek ερπετό (erpetó) is a learned word for a reptile in zoology, a snake, and figuratively a sly flatterer.^[10] The English word herpetology (1816) comes from French herpétologie, coined from this word.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for the animals that move on the earth.^[7][4]
• 7th century BC – Alcman uses it for all creatures the earth feeds.^[4][3]
• 7th–6th century BC – Semonides uses it for a beetle, and Sappho figuratively for Eros.^[4][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for a hound and for the snake-bodied Typhon.^[4][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus contrasts it with winged animals, and Euripides uses it for a snake.^[4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament lists reptiles with quadrupeds and birds.^[8]
• 6th century AD – A papyrus uses it as an adjective meaning creeping.^[4]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for any living creature and for a reptile.^[9]
• 1816 – English forms herpetology from this word through French.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An animal that moves on the ground, a beast, as opposed to birds and humans; any living creature.^[4][3]
2. A creeping thing, a reptile, especially a snake.^[4][8]
3. (figurative) A creature, of Eros.^[3]

Adjective

1. (Byzantine) creeping.^[4]

Related words

• ἕρπω (hérpō)
• ἕρπης (hérpēs)
• ἑρπύζω (herpúzō)
• Latin serpēns
• English herpetology

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 e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
8. ^ a b c d 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com