τέκτων

Ancient Greek

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ték.tɔːn/ → /ˈtek.ton/ → /ˈtek.ton/

• (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

1. 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.

     • 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.

2. any craftsman (but generally opposed to metalworker, smith)
3. a master of any art, such as gymnastics, poetry, or medicine or engineering
4. 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 tôi téktoni	τοῖν τεκτόνοιν toîn tektónoin	τοῖς τέκτοσῐ / τέκτοσῐν toîs téktosi(n)
Accusative	τὸν τέκτονᾰ tòn téktona	τὼ τέκτονε tṑ téktone	τοὺς τέκτονᾰς toùs téktonas
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)

Further reading

• “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