Etymologically
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ῥήγνυμι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /r̥ɛ̌ː.ɡnyː.mi/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈri.ɣny.mi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈri.ɣny.mi/[1]

Forms

ῥήγνῡμῐ (rhḗgnūmi) [1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₁ǵ- (“to break”), with an initial digamma that shows in dialect forms such as ϝρῆξις (wrêxis).[2][1][3] LIV gives the root the meaning “break, tear” in its intransitive sense.[3] The closest cognate in form and meaning is Old Armenian երգիծանեմ (ergicanem, “to tear apart, break”).[2][1] Since Meillet the verb has also been compared with the Balto-Slavic verbs Lithuanian rėžti (“to cut, incise”) and Old Church Slavonic рѣзати (rězati, “to cut”), which fit the sounds but not so well the meaning.[2] Forms with ⟨ραγ⟩, such as the passive aorist, must have a secondary zero grade.[2] Beekes finds a connection with Ancient Greek ῥάσσω (rhā́ssō) impossible.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it of breaking through ranks of men and of waves that break on the shore.[4][5] The Iliad has an iterative imperfect ῥήγνυσκε.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the sense “break, shatter, tear”, classical Greek developed several figurative uses: to let loose strife, to break into speech (said by Herodotus of children and of people long silent), and to burst into tears.[4] In the passive it was said of waves and clouds breaking, of the ground splitting in an earthquake, of ships wrecked, and in Aeschylus of hopes that came to nothing.[4] The Hippocratic writers use it of flows that burst out of the body.[4] Later Greek also has the presents ῥήσσω and ῥήττω.[4][6] In the New Testament new wine bursts old wineskins.[6]

Medieval Greek kept the late present ῥηγνύω, which is still used as a learned word.[7] Modern Greek uses the derivatives ρήξη (ríxi) and ρήγμα (rígma), learned words that also take the sense of French rupture.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of breaking ranks of men, and in the passive of waves breaking.[4][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the passive of hopes that are shattered.[4][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of breaking into speech, and Sophocles of bursting into tears.[4][9]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses the passive of ships that are wrecked.[4]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of wineskins that burst.[6]
  • Modern Greek – The verb survives only as a learned word, beside the derivatives ρήξη and ρήγμα.[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To break, shatter, burst, tear.[4][6]
  2. To break through a line of battle or a body of men.[4]
  3. To let loose, let break out: strife, the voice (to break into speech), tears.[4]
  4. (passive) To break, burst: of waves, clouds, the ground; of ships, to be wrecked; figuratively, of hopes.[4]
  5. (passive, intransitive active) To burst forth, of lightning or of flows from the body.[4]

Word family

  • αἱμορραγής (haimorragḗs)
  • ἀρραγής (arrhagḗs)
  • ἄρρηκτος (árrhēktos)
  • διχορραγής (dikhorragḗs)
  • πυρορραγής (purorragḗs)
  • ἀμφιρρήγνυμι (amphirrḗgnumi)
  • ἀναρρήγνυμι (anarrḗgnumi)
  • ἀντιρρήγνυμι (antirrḗgnumi)
  • ἀπορρήγνυμι (aporrḗgnumi)
  • διαρρήγνυμι (diarrḗgnumi)
  • ἐνρήγνυμι (enrḗgnumi)
  • ἐπιρρήγνυμι (epirrḗgnumi)
  • μεσορραγής (mesorragḗs)
  • περιρρήγνυμι (perirrḗgnumi)
  • ῥαγάς (rhagás)
  • ῥαγώδης (rhagṓdēs)
  • ῥῆγμα (rhêgma)
  • ῥηκτός (rhēktós)
  • ῥῆξις (rhêxis)
  • ῥώξ (rhṓx)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge