ἔκλειψις

Forms

ἔκλειψῐς (ékleipsis) f (genitive ἐκλείψεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐκλείπω (ekleípō, “to leave out, forsake, fail”) + -σις (-sis),^[1] and the verb is a compound of ἐκ (ek, “out”) and λείπω (leípō, “to leave”), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus has it first, for the desertion of ships and, figuratively, for the disappearance of cities foretold by an eclipse.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Thucydides and Xenophon use it for the eclipse of the sun, the “failing” of its light, and this became the main sense.^[3][4] Aristotle discusses the causes of eclipses and describes partial ones shaped like a crescent, and astronomers such as Cleomedes speak of partial and total eclipses.^[3] Since an eclipse of the moon was taken to foretell the fall of a king, Polybius and Plutarch use it figuratively for a king's end.^[4][3] Technical writers used it for any failing or loss: the drying up of lakes and rivers, the failure of bodily powers, the non-appearance of the afterbirth.^[3] In the Septuagint it is abandonment, failing and the extinction of a people.^[5][3] Coptic borrowed it.^[6]

Latin borrowed it as eclipsis.^[7][1] The English word eclipse, recorded about 1300, came from it through Old French and Latin.^[2] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for an eclipse of the sun or moon and figuratively for death,^[8] and Modern Greek έκλειψη (ékleipsi) is the astronomical eclipse.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the desertion of ships, and Thucydides for an eclipse of the sun.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle discusses the causes of eclipses.^[3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius takes a lunar eclipse as a sign of a king's end.^[4][3]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for eclipses and figuratively for death.^[8]
• About 1300 – English borrows eclipse through Old French.^[2]
• Modern Greek – έκλειψη (ékleipsi) is an eclipse.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Abandonment, desertion; departure.^[4][3]
2. An eclipse of the sun or moon.^[4][3][10]
3. Failing, loss, extinction; figuratively, the end of a king, a city or a people.^[3][4]
4. An omission in a document.^[4]

Related words

• ἐκλείπω (ekleípō)
• λείπω (leípō)
• ἐκλειπτικός (ekleiptikós)
• Latin eclipsis
• English eclipse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
6. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press