ὀχετός

Forms

ὀχετός (okhetós) m (genitive ὀχετοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Ancient Greek ὀχέω (okhéō, “to carry”), perhaps through the noun ὄχος (ókhos, “vehicle”): a channel was a means of carrying water.^[2][3][4][1] The suffix -ετός (-etós) is that of ὑετός (hūetós, “rain”).^[5] The verb ὀχέω (okhéō) is an iterative of ἔχω (ékhō) in its sense “to carry”, which is old and compares with Latin vehō (“to carry”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The compound ὀχετηγός (okhetēgós, “digging a channel”) is already in the Iliad.^[2] The noun itself is first found in Pindar, for the streams of a river.^[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In classical prose ὀχετός was a channel that brought water to towns or fields: Herodotus describes leather pipes, Thucydides water pipes, and Plato underground channels in the earth.^[3][4] Inscriptions name pipes of wood and stone, open or covered.^[3] Aristotle uses it for drains that carry waste from a city, and Plato and Xenophon for the ducts of the body.^[4][7] Euripides uses it figuratively of the course of a person's life.^[4]

A variant reading of Mark's Gospel has it for a drain or sewer.^[7] An 11th-century document has the form εχετός.^[8] In Modern Greek οχετός (ochetós) is a learned word for a sewer and, figuratively, for foul language.^[9][5]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the streams of a river.^[4][6][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes water pipes made of leather, and Thucydides water pipes.^[3][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of drains, and an inscription from Oropus of a covered stone pipe.^[3][4][10]
• 11th century – A document has the form εχετός.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned οχετός means a sewer, and figuratively foul language.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A conduit for water, a water pipe or channel, for towns or for irrigation.^[3][4]
2. A drain or sewer.^[4][7]
3. A duct or canal in the body.^[4][7]
4. (plural) The streams of a river.^[4]
5. (figurative) The course of a life; a pit of ruin.^[4]

Word family

• ὀχετεύω (okheteúō)
• ὀχετηγός (okhetēgós)
• ὀχετόκρανον (okhetókrānon)

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d 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
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
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge