σῖτος Ancient Greek · revision 2272

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Mycenaean (Linear B)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈsi.tos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''σῖτος''' (sîtos) ''m'' (genitive σῑ́του); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Heteroclite plural [[σῖτα|tr=sîta]] (neuter).^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+ [[gmy|si-to]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain: unlike [[πυρός|tr=purós]] “wheat” and [[κριθή|tr=krithḗ]] “barley”, it has no convincing etymology.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ It has often been explained as a loan from another Indo-European language, compared with the Balto-Slavic word for “grain” ([[prg|geits|t=bread]]) or with the Germanic word for “wheat” ([[gem-pro|*hwaitijaz]]), or as a substrate word, compared with [[eu|zitu|t=corn, harvest]] or [[sux|zid|t=flour]].^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010) Maccarrone proposed [[egy|sw.t|t=grain]].^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Beekes thinks the word nevertheless looks Indo-European, and reports Janda's proposal: a noun from an adjective “threshed”, from [[ine-pro|*tih₂-tó-|t=struck]], from a root *tieh₂- “to strike” seen in [[hit|zāḫ-i|t=to hit, beat]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Beekes considers this etymology of doubtful value.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Mycenaean tablets record si-to.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) In Homer it is bread or food other than meat, food as opposed to drink, and food in general; the ''Odyssey'' says that Ithaca has grain beyond measure.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Classical Greek used it for grain, both wheat and barley, as a crop and as a commodity: its ripening (Thucydides), ground corn (Herodotus), and its import and export (Demosthenes, Aristotle).^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Papyri of the 2nd century BC include olyra and lentils under it.^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary) It was also the maintenance allowance of troops (Thucydides) and, in law, the maintenance owed to widows, divorced women and orphans (Isaeus, Demosthenes, Aristotle); the Suda traces this use to Solon's laws.^(CGL 2021)^(Suda)

+

+ In the New Testament it is wheat or grain: the weeds sown among the wheat (Matthew 13), the grain of wheat of John 12:24, a ship's cargo (Acts 27:38); Ignatius calls himself “God's wheat”, to be ground by the teeth of the beasts.^(BDAG 2000) Medieval Greek used it for the wheat plant and its grain, for bread and for food in general.^(Kriaras) Triantafyllidis treats [[el|σίτος|tr=sítos]] as a learned word and defines it as [[el|σιτάρι|tr=sitári]].^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ [[παράσιτος|tr=parásitos]], “one who eats at another's table”, is the source of [[en|parasite]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Mycenaean – si-to on the Linear B tablets.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+ * Homer – bread, food.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the neuter plural σῖτα, and Thucydides the maintenance of troops.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Demosthenes writes of imported grain, and Isaeus of the maintenance of widows and orphans.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd century BC – papyri include lentils and olyra under it.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century AD – the New Testament: wheat and grain.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Modern Greek – σίτος, a learned word for wheat.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|grain|alt=Grain]], comprising [[m|en|wheat]] and [[m|en|barley]].^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Food made from grain, bread, often as opposed to meat.^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # Food in general, often as opposed to drink.^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # A maintenance allowance for troops, and ''(plural)'' provisions.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(law)'' Maintenance for widows, divorced women, orphans and wards.^(CGL 2021)^(Suda)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἄσιτος|tr=ásītos]]

+ * [[παράσιτος|tr=parásītos]]

+ * [[σιτάριον|tr=sītárion]]

+ * [[σιτίον|tr=sītíon]]

+ * [[σιτοφάγος|tr=sītophágos]]

+ * [[σιτία|tr=sitía]]

+ * [[σιτέομαι|tr=sitéomai]]

+ * [[σύσσιτος|tr=sússitos]]

+ * [[σιτηρέσιον|tr=sitērésion]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|parasite]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}