σκιά Ancient Greek · revision 2261

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Odyssey|origins=ine-pro *skeh₁ieh₂}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /sciˈa/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /sciˈa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''σκῐᾱ́''' (skiā́) ''f'' (genitive σκῐᾶς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ionic [[σκιή|tr=skiḗ]].^(Frisk 1960)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an old word for “shadow”, [[inh|ine-pro|*skeh₁ieh₂]], genitive *skh₁ieh₂-s, which originally inflected with ablaut.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) It matches [[sq|hije]] and [[txb|skiyo]], both “shadow”, and [[ae|a-saya-|t=casting no shadow]] corresponds to Greek [[ἄσκιος|tr=áskios]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Sanskrit and Persian have the word with a lengthened grade, Slavic with an n-suffix, and [[sga|scāth|t=shadow]] with a t-suffix.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ Beekes thinks the old link with [[σκηνή|tr=skēnḗ]] “tent” improbable.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ Ancient etymologists explained it as “what goes along with” someone, from [[κίω|tr=kíō]] “to go”, or from [[σχέθω|tr=skhéthō]] “to hold back”.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in the ''Odyssey'', for a shadow and for the shades of the dead.^(Frisk 1960)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From Hesiod on it is also shade, shelter from the sun and heat.^(CGL 2021) In Pindar and tragedy it became an image of what is fleeting and unreal: Pindar calls man “a shadow's dream”, Sophocles speaks of human beings as phantoms or “a weightless shadow”, and Aeschylus uses it of a man worn to a shadow.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Plato opposed shadow to reality, and “a donkey's shadow” meant something not worth fighting over (Aristophanes, Plato).^(CGL 2021)

+

+ In Hellenistic inscriptions, papyri and Menander it also means a coloured hem on a garment, and the compound [[σκιαγραφία|tr=skiagraphía]] refers to shading in painting.^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) The Septuagint's “shadow of death” in Psalm 23 comes from reading a Hebrew word for darkness as two words, “shadow” and “death”.^(Lust 2003) In the New Testament it is shade, a shadow, and a mere outline of something real.^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ Medieval vernacular forms include ασκιά, ησκιά and οσκιά, ησκιά probably from the phrase η σκιά, and Byzantine Greek also had a masculine ἥσκιος.^(Kriaras)^(Wiktionary) The word continues as [[el|σκιά|tr=skiá]].^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – the ''Odyssey'': shadows and the shades of the dead.^(Frisk 1960)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls man “a shadow's dream”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it as an image of human frailty.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts shadow and reality.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Menander uses it for a coloured hem.^(Frisk 1960)^(DGE)

+ * Septuagint – the “shadow of death” of Psalm 23.^(Lust 2003)

+ * Medieval Greek – the forms ασκιά and ησκιά, and Byzantine ἥσκιος.^(Kriaras)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|shade|alt=Shade]], shelter from light and heat.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # A [[m|en|shadow]] cast by a person or object.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A shadow as opposed to reality; a mere reflection or faint trace.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # The shade of a dead person, a [[m|en|ghost]] or [[m|en|phantom]]; an emaciated person.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A symbol of what is fleeting or unreal; in proverbs, “a donkey's shadow”, a trifle.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Hellenistic)'' A coloured [[m|en|hem]] or edging of a garment.^(Frisk 1960)

+ # ''(painting)'' Shading, hatching.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἄσκιος|tr=áskios]]

+ * [[εὔσκιος|tr=eúskios]]

+ * [[σκιαγραφία|tr=skiagraphía]]

+ * [[σκιάζω|tr=skiázō]]

+ * [[σκιάς|tr=skiás]]

+ * [[σκιατροφέω|tr=skiatrophéō]]

+ * [[σκιάω|tr=skiáō]]

+ * [[σκιόεις|tr=skióeis]]

+ * [[σκιαγράφος|tr=skiāgráphos]]

+ * [[σκιαμαχία|tr=skiāmakhíā]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|squirrel]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ [[σκίουρος|tr=skíouros]] “squirrel” is often explained as “shadow-tail”, a compound with [[οὐρά|tr=ourá]] “tail” (LSJ, Frisk), but Beekes considers that a folk etymology and the word perhaps Pre-Greek; through Medieval Latin it is the source of [[en|squirrel]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}