Etymologically
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ἕδρα

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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)
  • 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