Etymologically
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ὄστρακον

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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)
  • 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