στῆθος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

As this word is also Doric and Aeolic, the connection with ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”) must be given up. The similarity to στήνιον (stḗnion), Old Armenian ստին (stin, “breast”) and Sanskrit स्तन (stana, “female breast”) is hardly coincidental. If cognate, the relation between this word and στήνιον (stḗnion) would be like that of Latin plēnus (“full”) to πλῆθος (plêthos, “multitude”).

Pronunciation

Noun

στῆθος • (stêthos) n (genitive στήθεος or στήθους); third declension

1. breast (of both sexes)
2. breast as the seat of emotions, feelings
3. ball of the foot or thumb
4. (oncology) swelling, tumour
5. breast-shaped hill or mound

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

• → English: stetho-
• Greek: στήθος (stíthos)

Further reading

• “στῆθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “στῆθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “στῆθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• στῆθος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• στῆθος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G4738 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • bosom idem, page 90.
  • breast idem, page 96.
  • chest idem, page 129.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN