ὄστρακον Ancient Greek · revision 2239

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=Homeric Hymn to Hermes|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ós.tra.kon/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈos.tra.kon/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈos.tra.kon/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ὄστρᾰκον''' (óstrakon) ''n'' (genitive ὀστρᾰ́κου); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was traditionally explained as a formation in -ακο- from an r-stem ὀστ-ρ-, also seen in [[ὄστρεον|tr=óstreon|t=oyster]], alternating with the stem of [[ὀστέον|tr=ostéon|t=bone]] and Sanskrit [[m|sa|अस्थि|tr=ásthi|t=bone]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) 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, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]].^(Beekes 2010) The suffix -ακο- recurs in [[ἀστακός|tr=astakós|t=lobster]], which may be related, as may [[ἀστράγαλος|tr=astrágalos]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the ''Homeric Hymn to Hermes'', for the shell of a tortoise.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==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.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) In Attic it was also an earthen vessel or a flower-pot, and a potsherd, which in Lysias serves as a weapon.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ 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|tr=ostrakízō]] and [[ὀστρακισμός|tr=ostrakismós]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)^(CGL 2021) 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.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Aristophanes mocks the Muse of Euripides for clicking potsherds like castanets.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Later it was used for mother-of-pearl, and Ptolemy for the shell at the foot of the constellation Lyra.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ The Septuagint uses it for earthenware and for a potsherd, as in Job.^(Lust 2003) Medieval Greek used it for a potsherd, for a mortar of sand and broken tile, for the shell of animals and for cuttlebone.^(Kriaras) Modern Greek [[m|el|όστρακο|tr=óstrako]] is the shell of a mollusc or tortoise and, in archaeology, a potsherd.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for eggshell.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Cratinus jokes that the ostrakon has passed by.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato mentions the game of tossing a sherd.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the shells of animals and speaks of ostracism.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+ * 2nd century AD – Ptolemy uses it for the shell of the constellation Lyra.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * Modern Greek – It means a shell and, in archaeology, a potsherd.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The hard [[m|en|shell]] of snails, mussels or tortoises; an eggshell.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # An earthen vessel; a flower-pot.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|potsherd]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The sherd used in voting for banishment; [[m|en|ostracism]] itself.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The sherd tossed in a game.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # An earthenware castanet.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ὀστρακίζω|tr=ostrakízō]]

+ * [[ὀστράκινος|tr=ostrákinos]]

+ * [[μαλακόστρακος|tr=malakóstrakos]]

+ * [[ὀστρακίς|tr=ostrakís]]

+ * [[ὀστρακόδερμος|tr=ostrakódermos]]

+ * [[ὀστρακισμός|tr=ostrakismós]]

+ * [[ὀστρακίνδα|tr=ostrakínda]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ὄστρεον|tr=óstreon]]

+ * [[ὀστέον|tr=ostéon]]

+ * [[en|ostracize]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}