ταρσός

See also: Ταρσός

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

ταρρός (tarrhós) — Attic

Etymology

Uncertain. The term has been compared with Middle Armenian թառ (tʻaṙ, “bar for drying grapes”), Old High German darra (“apparatus for drying fruits”), Swedish tarre (“frame for drying malts”), suggesting a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry”). According to the linguist Lucien van Beek, it is possible that the term came to refer to dried materials, such as wickerwork. The NIL proposes a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥s-ós, though Beekes suggests that this etymology faces phonetic issues, arguing that *tr̥s- would not yield Ancient Greek ταρσ- (tars-). According to Beekes, it may have passed through an intermediate language before reaching Greek from an unknown source. Lucien van Beek suggests that Proto-Indo-European *-r̥s- may have regularly produced Ancient Greek -αρ- (-ar-), though he alternatively suggests that the term ταρσός (tarsós) could have restored the sequence -αρ- (-ar-).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tar.sós/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /tarˈsos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /tarˈsos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /tarˈsos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /tarˈsos/

Noun

τᾰρσός • (tărsós) m (genitive τᾰρσοῦ); second declension

A frame of wickerwork, crate, flat basket, for drying cheese on; (generally) a basket.
1. A mat of reeds, such as were built into brickwork to bind it together.
2. A mass of matted roots.
(of various broad flat surfaces)
1. (anatomy) The flat of the foot (the part between the toes and the heel).
  1. The palm of the hand.
  2. The ankle.
2. The rows of oars on the sides of ships.
3. (zoology) The flat of the outstretched wing.
4. The row of teeth in a saw.
5. (anatomy) The edge of the eyelid and its lashes.

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ τᾰρσός; τοῦ τᾰρσοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ τᾰρσός ho tărsós	τὼ τᾰρσώ tṑ tărsṓ	οἱ τᾰρσοί hoi tărsoí
Genitive	τοῦ τᾰρσοῦ toû tărsoû	τοῖν τᾰρσοῖν toîn tărsoîn	τῶν τᾰρσῶν tôn tărsôn
Dative	τῷ τᾰρσῷ tōî tărsōî	τοῖν τᾰρσοῖν toîn tărsoîn	τοῖς τᾰρσοῖς toîs tărsoîs
Accusative	τὸν τᾰρσόν tòn tărsón	τὼ τᾰρσώ tṑ tărsṓ	τοὺς τᾰρσούς toùs tărsoús
Vocative	τᾰρσέ tărsé	τᾰρσώ tărsṓ	τᾰρσοί tărsoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

ἐκτᾰρσόομαι (ektărsóomai)
εὔτᾰρσος (eútărsos)
σῠ́ντᾰρρος (sŭ́ntărrhos)
τᾰ́ρρῐον (tắrrhĭon)
τᾰρσόομαι (tărsóomai)
τᾰρσόω (tărsóō)
τᾰρσώδης (tărsṓdēs)
τᾰ́ρσωμᾰ (tắrsōmă)
τᾰρσωτός (tărsōtós)
τρᾰσῐᾱ́ (trăsĭā́)
χρῡσεότᾰρσος (khrūseótărsos)

Descendants

Greek: ταρσός (tarsós)
→ New Latin: tarsus
- → English: tarsus
>? Swedish: tass (unlikely)
- → Finnish: tassu

References

“ταρσός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ταρσός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“ταρσός”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
ταρσός in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), “*tr̥s-ó-”, in Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon [Nouns in the Indo-European Lexicon] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, page 701
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “ταρσός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1453-1454
van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 22)‎^[1], Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 388-389