ἔλλειψις

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /él.leːp.sis/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈel.lip.sis/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈel.lip.sis/^[1]

Forms

ἔλλειψῐς (élleipsis) f (genitive ἐλλείψεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “to fall short, omit”) with the suffix -σις (-sis).^[1] The verb is formed from ἐν (en, “in”) and λείπω (leípō, “to leave”), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave behind”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Democritus and Plato use it for falling short, as opposed to excess.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Plato and Aristotle deficiency and excess are opposed: Aristotle's ethics places virtue at the mean between them.^[3][5] Mathematicians gave it technical senses: Apollonius of Perga named the conic section ellipse because a certain rectangle “falls short”, and Diophantus used it for the negative terms of an equation.^[3] Grammarians used it for the omission of a word, ellipsis, and of a letter.^[3][1] It was also used for an eclipse, and by the Pythagoreans as a name for the number two.^[3]

Latin borrowed it as ellīpsis.^[1] Modern Greek has έλλειψη (élleipsi).^[1]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Democritus uses it for falling short.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle opposes it to excess.^[3][5]
• 3rd century BC (probably) – Apollonius of Perga names the ellipse.^[3]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it for grammatical ellipsis.^[3]
• 3rd century AD – Diophantus uses it for negative terms.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A falling short, deficiency, defect, as opposed to excess.^[3][6]
2. (geometry) An ellipse.^[3][1]
3. (algebra) Negative terms.^[3]
4. (grammar) ellipsis, the omission of a word; the omission of a letter.^[3][1]
5. An eclipse.^[3][1]

Related words

• ἐλλείπω (elleípō)
• λείπω (leípō)
• ἔκλειψις (ékleipsis)
• English ellipsis
• English ellipse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press