ἔντερον

Forms

ἔντερον (énteron) n (genitive ἐντέρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁énteros (“inner, being inside”), an adjective that Greek turned into a noun in the neuter.^[1][2] Beekes calls it an old word for the intestines, identical with Old Armenian ընդերք (ənderkʻ) and Old Norse iðrar, from Proto-Germanic *inþerōz, and notes Hübschmann's view that the Armenian word was borrowed from Greek.^[2] Cognate with Sanskrit अन्त्र (ántra, “entrails”), Russian ятро (jatró) and Latin interāneum (“entrails”).^[1]

The original meaning of the adjective, “being inside”, survives in Sanskrit and in Avestan antara.^[2] It is formed from the adverb *h₁enter (as in inter (“between”)), which is *h₁én (as in ἐν (en, “in”)) with the comparative suffix *-ter.^[2][1]

Ancient grammarians derived it from the preposition in the same way as ὑπέρτερος (hupérteros) from ὑπέρ (hupér) (Herodian), from food flowing (ῥέω (rhéō)) through it, or from ἕτερος (héteros, “other”) (the Suda and the Etymologicum Magnum).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses the plural for the bowels or intestines, as when a spear tears through them, and the Odyssey uses the singular once, for a twisted string of sheep's gut.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Archilochus uses it for the womb or belly, Aeschylus and Plato have the plural for the bowels, and Aristophanes jokes about the gut of a gnat.^[5][7] Aristotle uses the singular for a gut and collectively for the bowels, and calls earthworms the “guts of the earth”, a phrase also found in Aratus.^[5] In the Hippocratic writings a bag made of gut held liquid medicines, and gut also served as the string of instruments and as fishing bait.^[5][7] Galen distinguishes the small and the large intestine, the caecum (the “blind gut”) and the rectum.^[7]

The Septuagint makes the bowels the seat of feeling: Joseph's bowels are stirred for his brother.^[7] An Aesopic proverb, “the guts fight but are not torn apart”, was said of quarrels within a family.^[7] Its derivative δυσεντερία (dusenteríā) named dysentery.^[1]

Medieval vernacular Greek had the forms έντερο (éntero), άντερο (ántero) and ένδερο (éndero), with “the guts of the earth” for earthworms and a phrase for anger, “my guts boil”.^[8] In Modern Greek έντερο (éntero) is a learned word for the intestine.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the plural for the bowels, and the Odyssey the singular for a string of sheep's gut.^[4][5]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for the womb or belly.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Aristophanes jokes about the gut of a gnat.^[5][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the singular for a gut and calls earthworms the “guts of the earth”.^[5]
• 2nd century AD – Galen names the small and large intestine, the caecum and the rectum.^[7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts have the forms έντερο (éntero) and άντερο (ántero).^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned έντερο (éntero) means the intestine.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chiefly plural) The intestines, bowels, guts.^[5][6]
2. (singular) A piece of gut: a gut-string for a bow or a lyre, a bag made of gut.^[5][6][7]
3. The womb, the belly.^[5]
4. (figurative) The bowels as the seat of feeling.^[7]
5. The inside of a fruit.^[5]
6. (plural, with γῆ (gê) “earth”) Earthworms; also worm-casts.^[5]

Word family

• δυσεντερία (dusenteríā)
• ἐντέρινος (entérinos)
• ἐντεροκήλη (enterokḗlē)

Related words

• ἐν (en)
• Latin interāneum
• Latin inter

Usage notes

In the Septuagint's Sirach, “a moderate gut” means moderation in eating.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
4. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
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