ἵζω
Pronunciation
- 5th-century BC Attic: /híz.dɔː/[1]
- 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈi.zo/[1]
- 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈi.zo/[1]
Forms
ῐ̔́ζω (hízō) [1] Doric (Alcman) ἵσδω.[2] Aorist εἷσα, participle ἕσας, infinitive ἕσσαι (Pindar); late aorist ἵζησα.[3][2]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hízdō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sísdeti, a reduplicated present of *sed- (“to sit”).[1][4][5] The rough breathing continues the first *s of the reduplication, *si-sd-.[6][3] It corresponds exactly to Latin sīdō (“to sit down”) and Sanskrit सीदति (sī́dati, “sits”).[4][1]
The related present ἕζομαι (hézomai) continues a present with the suffix *-ye-, the type of Old Norse sitja and Old High German sizzen.[4] The aorist εἷσα (heîsa) comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₁e-sed-s-m, with a secondary rough breathing.[4] In Attic prose the compound καθίζω (kathízō) was used instead of the simple verb.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Homer has the present and the aorist, in two uses: causative, “make sit, seat, set” (“don't seat me on a chair”, Iliad 24.553, to set a man as a lookout, 23.359, to lay an ambush, 4.392), and intransitive, “sit” (2.96, “he sat in the midst”, 20.15).[3][6][2]
Semantic evolution
Hesiod uses it of placing someone in ambush.[2] The middle aorist came to mean setting up and dedicating temples, altars and statues to the gods (Theognis, Herodotus 1.66, Pindar), and Doric inscriptions of Corcyra and Argos have it in this sense.[3][2] It could also mean to found sacrifices (Thucydides) or a court, the Areopagus (Euripides).[2] Figuratively, Pindar has a city “sink” into ruin (Olympian 10.38), and Plato's Timaeus an island subsiding (25c).[3]
The simple verb is mostly poetic and late; later prose has a new aorist ἵζησα (Dio Cassius).[3]
Timeline
- Homer – The Iliad uses it for seating someone and for sitting down.[3][6]
- Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of placing someone in ambush.[2][7]
- 6th century BC – An inscription of Corcyra and the poems of Theognis use the middle aorist of dedicating to a god.[3][2]
- 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of setting someone on a throne and of dedicating.[3][2]
- 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the middle of an island subsiding.[3][7]
- 2nd–3rd century AD – Dio Cassius uses the late aorist ἵζησα.[3][7]
Meanings
Verb
- To make sit, seat; to set (on a ship), place (in ambush); to lay an ambush.[2][3]
- To appoint, set someone over (cattle, as a herdsman), as umpire or prophet, or on a throne as king.[2][3]
- To settle people in a new land.[2]
- (middle) To set up, dedicate temples, altars or statues; to found sacrifices or a court.[2][3]
- (intransitive) To sit, sit down.[2][3]
- Of things, to settle down, sink, subside.[3][2]
- (middle) To lie in ambush.[3]
Word family
- ἀμφιζάνω (amphizánō)
- ἀντικαθίζομαι (antikathízomai)
- ἀποκαθίζω (apokathízō)
- διακαθίζω (diakathízō)
- ἐγκαθίζω (enkathízō)
- εἰσίζομαι (eisízomai)
- ἐνίζω (enízō)
- ἐπικαθίζω (epikathízō)
- ἐφίζω (ephízō)
- ἱζάνω (hizánō)
- καθιζάνω (kathizánō)
- καθίζω (kathízō)
- κατίζω (katízō)
- παρακαθίζω (parakathízō)
Related words
- ἕδος (hédos)
- ἕζομαι (hézomai)
- ἧμαι (hêmai)
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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
- ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
- ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
- ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge