Etymologically
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ὄργανον

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ór.ɡa.non/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈor.ɣa.non/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈor.ɣa.non/[1]

Forms

ὄργᾰνον (órganon) n (genitive ὀργᾰ́νου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed like ξόανον (xóanon) (from ξέω (xéō)) and ὄχανον (ókhanon) (from ἔχω (ékhō)), from the root of ἔργον (érgon, “work”) and ἔρδω (érdō, “to do”), Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to work”).[2][3][1] Frisk leaves open whether it was formed directly from the verb or through ἔργον (érgon) and the compounds in -οργός (-orgós).[3] Athena had the epithet Ὀργάνη (Orgánē), beside Ἐργάνη (Ergánē).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded uses are in Sophocles' Women of Trachis and in Euripides (5th century BC), for implements and tools.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is any instrument for making or doing something: Euripides speaks of spear-makers' tools, Plato of weapons, farming tools and a ship's tackle, and Ctesias uses it for an engine of war.[5] It was also a musical instrument (Pindar, Euripides, Plato) and a surgical instrument.[6] Plato calls a name an instrument of teaching and the stars instruments of time, and uses it for the organs of sense.[5][6] A person could be an instrument: Sophocles has an “instrument of all evils”, and Aristotle calls a slave or helper an instrument.[5][6]

Latin borrowed it as organum.[7][1] Its plural organa “a musical instrument” gave late Old English organe and Old French orgene, the source of English organ, which by the late 14th century meant the pipe instrument.[8] Modern Greek has όργανο.[1]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it for tools.[4][5]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for musical instruments and the organs of sense.[6][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle calls a slave an instrument.[6][9]
  • Late Old English – organe is borrowed for a musical instrument.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An instrument, implement, tool.[5][6]
  2. A musical instrument.[6]
  3. A surgical instrument; an engine of war.[6][5]
  4. (figurative) A person as an instrument, a helper.[6]
  5. An organ of sense, especially the eye.[6][5]
  6. A product of workmanship.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge