κάστωρ Ancient Greek · revision 2270

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|attested=5th century BC, Herodotus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈkas.tor/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''κάστωρ''' (kástōr) ''m'' (genitive κάστορος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is disputed.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Since Kretschmer it has usually been taken from the name of [[Κάστωρ|tr=Kástōr]], one of the Dioscuri, who was invoked as a saviour of women, because castoreum, the beaver's secretion, was used against women's diseases.^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline) Frisk accepts this and traces the name itself to [[κέκασμαι|tr=kékasmai]].^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ Beekes rejects this as unsupported: the beaver no longer lived in Greece, and Herodotus first mentions it in the north Pontic region, so the word could be foreign or even inherited.^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ Wiktionary points to [[sa|कस्तूरी|tr=kastūrī|t=musk]] and [[sa|कस्तूरिका|tr=kastūrikā|t=musk deer, musk]], which would suggest an Indo-European *kestor- “beaver, musk”, and argues that the Sanskrit words are not borrowed from Greek καστόριον, as Beekes and Frisk hold; it also mentions Doric [[κάστον|tr=káston]] “wood”.^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Herodotus first mentions the beaver, in the north Pontic region.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hippocratic writers and Aretaeus use κάστωρ for castoreum itself, the drug obtained from the animal, usually called [[καστόριον|tr=kastórion]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010) Hesychius describes it as the animal from which the “castor testicles” come.^(Hesychius) Aristotle and Aelian describe the animal, and in Pseudo-Dioscorides the word names saffron.^(LSJ 1940)

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+ [[καστορίς|tr=kastorís]] named a Laconian breed of dogs said to have been first bred by Castor, and in Oppian and Aelian the beaver.^(Beekes 2010) It was borrowed as [[la|castor]], and it spread from Latin to other European languages, among them [[en|castor]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus first mentions the beaver.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it for castoreum.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the animal.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd century AD – Aretaeus uses it for castoreum.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian describes the beaver.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|beaver]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # [[m|en|castoreum|alt=Castoreum]], the drug obtained from the beaver.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+ # ''(Pseudo-Dioscorides)'' [[m|en|saffron|alt=Saffron]].^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[καστόριον|tr=kastórion]]

+ * [[καστορίς|tr=kastorís]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|castor]]

+ * [[en|castor]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proper name Κάστωρ, Castor, son of Leda and brother of Polydeuces and Helen, is found from Homer on, and Mycenaean has the personal name ka-to(-ro).^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)^(Onomata)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}