ἕδρα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /hé.draː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈe.ðra/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈe.ðra/^[1]

Forms

ἕδρᾱ (hédrā) f (genitive ἕδρᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hédrā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂, from *sed- (“to sit”), the root of ἕζομαι (hézomai, “I sit”).^[1][2] Frisk describes it as a place noun in -ρα, like χώρα (khṓrā), formed to ἕζομαι (hézomai), and notes that no exact match exists outside Greek.^[3] The poetic ἕδρανον (hédranon) is an enlarged form of it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a seat: Agamemnon speaks “from his own seat” (Iliad 19.77).^[2] The Odyssey uses it for the long benches of a public assembly, “nine benches, five hundred in each” (3.7).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the Iliad it is also a seat of honour, and in Aeschylus a throne.^[4] Pindar, Herodotus and the tragedians use it for a dwelling-place, the abode of the gods, a shrine, and a post or station.^[4] It also named the act of sitting: a session, and sitting still, inactivity, delay.^[1] It was also the seat of the body, the fundament, and the medical derivative ἑδρικός (hedrikós) meant “of the anus”.^[1][3] The plural meant the quarters of the sky in which omens appeared.^[1]

Later mathematicians used it for the face of a solid figure (Pappus) and for the base of a cylinder (Hero).^[2] Modern Greek έδρα is a seat, a bench from which a teacher or judge acts, the seat of an office, and in geometry a face.^[5] English -hedron comes from it.^[1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a seat and benches.^[2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a throne.^[4][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for an abode.^[4][2]
• 3rd century AD – Pappus uses it for the face of a solid.^[2]
• Modern Greek – έδρα is a seat and a geometric face.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seat, chair, bench; a seat of honour, throne.^[4][1]
2. An abode, dwelling-place, especially of gods; a shrine; a station, post.^[4]
3. A sitting, session; sitting still, delay.^[1]
4. The seat, fundament; of animals, the rump.^[1]
5. (plural) The quarters of the sky where omens appeared.^[1]
6. (geometry) The face of a solid; the base of a cylinder.^[2][1]

Word family

• δύσεδρος (dúsedros)
• ἐνέδρα (enédra)
• ἔνεδρος (énedros)
• ἐξέδρα (exédra)
• ἔξεδρος (éxedros)
• εὔεδρος (eúedros)
• ἐφέδρα (ephédrā)
• ἔφεδρος (éphedros)
• καθέδρα (kathédrā)
• πάρεδρος (páredros)
• πολύεδρος (polúedros)
• πρόσεδρος (prósedros)
• σύνεδρος (súnedros)
• ἄφεδρος (áphedros)

Related words

• English -hedron

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki