ἕδρα Ancient Greek · revision 15492

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *sed-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /hé.draː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈe.ðra/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈe.ðra/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ἕδρᾱ''' (hédrā) ''f'' (genitive ἕδρᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|grk-pro|*hédrā]], [[inh|ine-pro|*sedreh₂]], from [[m|ine-pro|*sed-|t=to sit]], the root of [[m|grc|ἕζομαι|tr=hézomai|t=I sit]].^(Wiktionary)^(DGE) Frisk describes it as a place noun in -ρα, like [[m|grc|χώρα|tr=khṓrā]], formed to [[m|grc|ἕζομαι|tr=hézomai]], and notes that no exact match exists outside Greek.^(Frisk 1960) The poetic [[m|grc|ἕδρανον|tr=hédranon]] is an enlarged form of it.^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Homer it is a seat: Agamemnon speaks “from his own seat” (''Iliad'' 19.77).^(DGE) The ''Odyssey'' uses it for the long benches of a public assembly, “nine benches, five hundred in each” (3.7).^(DGE)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Iliad'' it is also a seat of honour, and in Aeschylus a throne.^(CGL 2021) Pindar, Herodotus and the tragedians use it for a dwelling-place, the abode of the gods, a shrine, and a post or station.^(CGL 2021) It also named the act of sitting: a session, and sitting still, inactivity, delay.^(Wiktionary) It was also the seat of the body, the fundament, and the medical derivative [[ἑδρικός|tr=hedrikós]] meant “of the anus”.^(Wiktionary)^(Frisk 1960) The plural meant the quarters of the sky in which omens appeared.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Later mathematicians used it for the face of a solid figure (Pappus) and for the base of a cylinder (Hero).^(DGE) Modern Greek ''έδρα'' is a seat, a bench from which a teacher or judge acts, the seat of an office, and in geometry a face.^(Triantafyllidis 1998) English ''-hedron'' comes from it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' use it for a seat and benches.^(DGE)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a throne.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for an abode.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 3rd century AD – Pappus uses it for the face of a solid.^(DGE)

+ * Modern Greek – ''έδρα'' is a seat and a geometric face.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|seat]], chair, bench; a seat of honour, [[m|en|throne]].^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|abode]], dwelling-place, especially of gods; a shrine; a station, post.^(CGL 2021)

+ # A sitting, session; sitting still, delay.^(Wiktionary)

+ # The seat, [[m|en|fundament]]; of animals, the rump.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' The quarters of the sky where omens appeared.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(geometry)'' The face of a solid; the base of a cylinder.^(DGE)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[δύσεδρος|tr=dúsedros]]

+ * [[ἐνέδρα|tr=enédra]]

+ * [[ἔνεδρος|tr=énedros]]

+ * [[ἐξέδρα|tr=exédra]]

+ * [[ἔξεδρος|tr=éxedros]]

+ * [[εὔεδρος|tr=eúedros]]

+ * [[ἐφέδρα|tr=ephédrā]]

+ * [[ἔφεδρος|tr=éphedros]]

+ * [[καθέδρα|tr=kathédrā]]

+ * [[πάρεδρος|tr=páredros]]

+ * [[πολύεδρος|tr=polúedros]]

+ * [[πρόσεδρος|tr=prósedros]]

+ * [[σύνεδρος|tr=súnedros]]

+ * [[ἄφεδρος|tr=áphedros]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|-hedron]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}