παράσιτος Ancient Greek · revision 3112

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Epicharmus|origins=grc σῖτος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''πᾰρᾰ́σῑτος''' (parásītos) ''m'' (genitive πᾰρᾰσῑ́του); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[παρά|tr=pará|t=beside]] and [[σῖτος|tr=sîtos|t=grain, food]]: originally an adjective, “feeding beside”, one who eats at another's table.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that σῖτος is of unknown origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The comic poets Epicharmus and Araros already use it for a parasite, one who eats at another's table and repays him with flattery and jokes.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The parasite became a stock character of comedy: Antiphanes, Alexis and Diphilus wrote plays called ''Parasite'', and Theophrastus describes the type.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Lucian wrote a mock treatise on the art of the parasite.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) It was also an official title, for priests who took their meals at public expense and for one who dined with a superior officer.^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary) Hesychius glosses it as “table-shaker”.^(Hesychius)

+

+ Medieval Greek used it for a sponger and a comic type, perhaps with influence from Italian ''parassito''.^(Kriaras) Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|parasītus]], and English took ''parasite'' in the 1530s for a toady who lives on others.^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|παράσιτος|tr=parásitos]] means living at the expense of others, also of parasitic organisms, a sense taken from French ''parasite''.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC (probably) – Epicharmus uses it for a parasite.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th century BC – Antiphanes and Alexis write comedies titled ''Parasite''.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes the parasite.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 2nd century AD – Lucian writes ''On the Parasite''.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1530s – English borrows ''parasite''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One who eats at another's table and repays him with flattery, a [[m|en|parasite]], hanger-on.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A priest who takes his meals at public expense.^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+ # One who dines with a superior officer.^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[σῖτος|tr=sîtos]]

+ * [[la|parasitus]]

+ * [[en|parasite]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}