τέκτων

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *téktōn, from Proto-Indo-European *tétḱō (“carpenter”), from *tetḱ- (“to create, produce”). Cognate with Sanskrit तक्षन् (tákṣan).^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ték.tɔːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈtek.ton/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈtek.ton/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈtek.ton/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈtek.ton/

Noun

τέκτων • (téktōn) m (genitive τέκτονος); third declension

one who works with wood: carpenter, builder
- 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1.1098a:
  καὶ γὰρ τέκτων καὶ γεωμέτρης διαφερόντως ἐπιζητοῦσι τὴν ὀρθήν: ὃ μὲν γὰρ ἐφ᾽ ὅσον χρησίμη πρὸς τὸ ἔργον, ὃ δὲ τί ἐστιν ἢ ποῖόν τι: θεατὴς γὰρ τἀληθοῦς.
  kaì gàr téktōn kaì geōmétrēs diapheróntōs epizētoûsi tḕn orthḗn: hò mèn gàr eph’ hóson khrēsímē pròs tò érgon, hò dè tí estin ḕ poîón ti: theatḕs gàr talēthoûs.
  1926 translation by H. Rackham
  A carpenter and a geometrician both try to find a right angle, but in different ways; the former is content with that approximation to it which satisfies the purpose of his work; the latter, being a student of truth, seeks to find its essence or essential attributes.
any craftsman (but generally opposed to metalworker, smith)
a master of any art, such as gymnastics, poetry, or medicine or engineering
author, creator, planner

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ τέκτων; τοῦ τέκτονος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ τέκτων ho téktōn	τὼ τέκτονε tṑ téktone	οἱ τέκτονες hoi téktones
Genitive	τοῦ τέκτονος toû téktonos	τοῖν τεκτόνοιν toîn tektónoin	τῶν τεκτόνων tôn tektónōn
Dative	τῷ τέκτονῐ tōî téktonĭ	τοῖν τεκτόνοιν toîn tektónoin	τοῖς τέκτοσῐ / τέκτοσῐν toîs téktosĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν τέκτονᾰ tòn téktonă	τὼ τέκτονε tṑ téktone	τοὺς τέκτονᾰς toùs téktonăs
Vocative	τέκτων téktōn	τέκτονε téktone	τέκτονες téktones
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἀρχιτέκτων (arkhitéktōn)
τέκταινα (téktaina)

Related terms

τέχνη (tékhnē)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “τέκτων, -ονος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1460

“τέκτων”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“τέκτων”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“τέκτων”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
τέκτων in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Bauer, Walter et al. (2001), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
τέκτων in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
“τέκτων”, in Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G5045 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- artificer idem, page 42.
- artist idem, page 42.
- author idem, page 53.
- carpenter idem, page 114.
- contriver idem, page 170.
- deviser idem, page 220.
- fabricator idem, page 299.
- forger idem, page 338.
- inventor idem, page 457.
- joiner idem, page 463.
- maker idem, page 509.
- sawyer idem, page 736.
- workman idem, page 989.
- wright idem, page 993.
Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “τέκτων, -ονος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1460

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