ὄστρακον

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ós.tra.kon/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈos.tra.kon/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈos.tra.kon/^[1]

Forms

ὄστρᾰκον (óstrakon) n (genitive ὀστρᾰ́κου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It was traditionally explained as a formation in -ακο- from an r-stem ὀστ-ρ-, also seen in ὄστρεον (óstreon, “oyster”), alternating with the stem of ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”) and Sanskrit अस्थि (ásthi, “bone”).^[2][3][1] Beekes objects that Indo-European has no such alternation between r and i, nor a suffix that would give -ακο-, and considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.^[2] The suffix -ακο- recurs in ἀστακός (astakós, “lobster”), which may be related, as may ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos).^[2][4] Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, for the shell of a tortoise.^[6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

It was the hard shell of snails, mussels, cuttlefish and tortoises in the Hippocratic writers, Theocritus (a conch used as a trumpet) and Aristotle, and Aeschylus uses it of eggshell.^[6][7] In Attic it was also an earthen vessel or a flower-pot, and a potsherd, which in Lysias serves as a weapon.^[6][7]

The sherd on which voters wrote the name of the man they wanted banished gave its name to ostracism: the comic poet Cratinus says “the ostrakon has passed by”, meaning the danger of ostracism is over, which gave the verb ὀστρακίζω (ostrakízō) and ὀστρακισμός (ostrakismós).^[6][2][7] A game was played by tossing a sherd to see which side fell up, and Plato's “if the sherd falls the other way” means a sudden reversal.^[6][7] Aristophanes mocks the Muse of Euripides for clicking potsherds like castanets.^[6][7] Later it was used for mother-of-pearl, and Ptolemy for the shell at the foot of the constellation Lyra.^[6]

The Septuagint uses it for earthenware and for a potsherd, as in Job.^[8] Medieval Greek used it for a potsherd, for a mortar of sand and broken tile, for the shell of animals and for cuttlebone.^[9] Modern Greek όστρακο (óstrako) is the shell of a mollusc or tortoise and, in archaeology, a potsherd.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for eggshell.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Cratinus jokes that the ostrakon has passed by.^[6][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato mentions the game of tossing a sherd.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the shells of animals and speaks of ostracism.^[6][2]
• 2nd century AD – Ptolemy uses it for the shell of the constellation Lyra.^[6][11]
• Modern Greek – It means a shell and, in archaeology, a potsherd.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hard shell of snails, mussels or tortoises; an eggshell.^[6][7]
2. An earthen vessel; a flower-pot.^[6][7]
3. A potsherd.^[6][7]
4. The sherd used in voting for banishment; ostracism itself.^[6][7]
5. The sherd tossed in a game.^[6][7]
6. An earthenware castanet.^[6]
7. Tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl.^[6]

Word family

• ὀστρακίζω (ostrakízō)
• ὀστράκινος (ostrákinos)
• μαλακόστρακος (malakóstrakos)
• ὀστρακίς (ostrakís)
• ὀστρακόδερμος (ostrakódermos)
• ὀστρακισμός (ostrakismós)
• ὀστρακίνδα (ostrakínda)

Related words

• ὄστρεον (óstreon)
• ὀστέον (ostéon)
• English ostracize

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge