Etymologically
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ἔλλειψις

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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]
  • 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