κρύπτω

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

Etymology

    Unknown. The etymology determination is complicated by the fact that the word is both in sense and form similar with Ancient Greek καλύπτω (kalúptō, to cover), thus indicating possible (bi-directional) analogical influence.

    Although the word is traditionally compared with the semantically close Proto-Balto-Slavic *kráuˀtei (to cover, hide) (whence Russian крыть (krytʹ, id), Old Church Slavonic крꙑти (kryti, id), Lithuanian krovinỹs (cargo)), de Vaan notes that Balto-Slavic evidence demands a laryngeal while Greek excludes it, making a formal relation difficult.[1]

    Beekes thus suggests possible Pre-Greek origin due to lack of solid Indo-European etymology, but acknowledges that the variation in labial (which he usually considered to be an argument for substrate origin) may be due to aforementioned analogy.[2]

    Pronunciation

     

    Verb

    κρύπτω • (krúptō)

    1. to hide, cover
    2. to conceal, obscure

    Usage notes

    An Ionic 3rd person plural perfect form κεκρύφαται (kekrúphatai), a poetic 3rd singular pluperfect κέκρυπτο (kékrupto), and Epic perfect participle κεκρυμμένος (kekrumménos), and an Epic 3rd person singular imperfect form κρύπτασκε (krúptaske) are attested.

    Inflection

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Greek: κρύβω (krývo, to conceal, to hide)
    • English: cryptic (having hidden meaning)

    References

    1. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (1999) “The PIE root structure *Te(R)Dʰ-¹)”, in Historische Sprachforschung[1], page 12
    2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κρύπτω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 786-787

    Further reading

    Greek

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈkɾi.pto/
    • Hyphenation: κρύ‧πτω

    Verb

    κρύπτω • (krýpto) (past έκρυψα) passive -κρύπτομαι (found in compounds)

    1. (dated) alternative form of κρύβω (krývo)

    Usage notes

    • Found only in compounds.

    Conjugation

    • See compounds

    Compounds:

    Other κρυπτ- words

    And see κρύβω (krývo) for stems κρυφ-, κρυψ-