ὕπερος

Forms

ῠ̔́περος (húperos) m (genitive ῠ̔πέρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, “over, above”).^[1][2] Chantraine lists ὕπερον (húperon) among the derivatives of the preposition, and he and Pokorny compare the adjective in Avestan upara (“upper”) and Latin superus (“upper”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesiod's Works and Days is the first text with the word: he advises a pestle three cubits long.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus people pound grain with pestles, and the word stayed the ordinary term for the pestle of a mortar (ὅλμος (hólmos)).^[4][5] The comic poet Plato coined the proverb “the turning of the pestle”, for endless labour that achieves nothing, which Plato the philosopher and later writers repeat.^[4]

Anything shaped like a pestle could bear the name: a club or cudgel in Plutarch and Lucian, and in Hippocratic surgery a lever used to stretch dislocated joints.^[4][5] Aristotle gives the name to the pupa of a geometrid moth.^[4][2]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod recommends a pestle three cubits long.^[4][6][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus describes grain pounded with pestles.^[4][7]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it for a lever that stretches dislocated joints.^[4][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato the comic poet makes “the turning of the pestle” proverbial.^[4][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the pupa of a geometrid moth.^[4][2][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a club.^[4][5][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pestle.^[4][5][1]
2. A pestle-shaped weapon, a club or cudgel.^[4][5]
3. (medicine) A lever for stretching dislocated joints.^[4][1]
4. (zoology) The pupa of a geometrid moth.^[4][2]

Related words

• ὑπέρα (hupérā)

Usage notes

LSJ notes that the neuter ὕπερον (húperon) is the form found in an Athenian inscription of the 5th century BC and in most passages that show the gender; only Hesiod's line points to a masculine ὕπερος, and it has been proposed to read the line otherwise.^[4] The CGL therefore heads the word ὕπερον.^[5]

The proverb is ὑπέρου περιτροπή, “the pestle's turning round”.^[4] Zonaras glosses the word with the later term for a mortar's pestle.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius