ῥητίνη

Forms

ῥητῑ́νη (rhētī́nē) f (genitive ῥητῑ́νης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek: the suffixes -ινος (-īnos) and -ινη (-īnē) occur in both inherited and Pre-Greek words, but there are no good cognates, and Latin rēsīna (“resin”) points to a dialectal Greek variant *ῥησίνα (*rhēsína), a variation typical of Pre-Greek words.^[2][1] Chantraine denies that rēsīna requires such a Greek form; he and Frisk agree that ῥητίνη is probably a loanword, like the Latin word.^[3][4] LSJ too calls it probably foreign.^[5] The comparison with Latin rasis (“a kind of raw powdered pitch”) is doubtful.^[2][4] Babiniotis reports a guess that it is Persian, which rests on Herodotus' remark (6.119) that the Persians call a kind of oil ῥαδινάκη (rhadinákē).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Hippocratic writings of the 5th century BC (On Joints 63), meaning the resin of the pine.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle, Theophrastus, Nicander and Dioscorides use it for pine resin, and the medical writers made a salve of wax dissolved in resin, ῥητινόκηρον (rhētinókēron).^[5][2] Dioscorides calls resinated wine ῥητινίτης (rhētinítēs) (οἶνος).^[2][6]

Medieval vernacular Greek had the forms ρετσίνη (retsíni) and ρητσίνη (ritsíni), shaped by Late Latin resina, which also gave Modern Greek ρετσίνα (retsína), resinated wine.^[8][3] ρητίνη (ritíni) itself is a learned word in Modern Greek, for the resin of conifers and, in chemistry, natural and synthetic resins.^[9] English resin (late 14th century) comes through Old French from Latin rēsīna.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it for pine resin.^[5][6][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle mentions it.^[5][7]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides describes resinated wine and other uses of resin.^[2][6][7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts have the forms ρετσίνη (retsíni) and ρητσίνη (ritsíni), influenced by Latin.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The word is a learned term for resin, natural or synthetic.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Resin, especially the resin of the pine or fir.^[5][11][2]

Word family

• ῥητινώδης (rhētinṓdēs)
• ῥητινίτης (rhētinítēs)
• ῥητινόω (rhētinóō)

Related words

• Latin rēsīna
• English resin

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. ^ a b 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
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press