τρέφω

• τρᾰ́φω (trắphō) — Doric

From Proto-Hellenic *tʰrépʰō with deaspiration of the /tʰ/ to /t/ by Grassmann's law everywhere except in forms where the /pʰ/ has been deaspirated to /p/ by a following consonant (future, first aorist, perfect middle). Further origin is disputed:^[1] Compare θρόμβος (thrómbos, “lump, clot, curd of milk”).

According to Beekes, a Pre-Greek substratum word, with the original concrete meaning apparently being something along the lines of “to congeal or curdle milk”, whence “to make grow, promote growth”. Within Indo-European, it is traditionally compared to Lithuanian dri̇̀bti (“to fall down in flakes”) and drė̃bti (“to throw a thick fluid”), Latvian drēbt (“to sleet (of damp snow falling)”).

The Greek term additionally bears resemblance to expressions for “dregs” in Celtic (cf. Middle Irish drab (“dregs, yeast”)), Germanic (Proto-Germanic *drabaz (“dregs”)), and Slavic (Proto-Slavic *droba (“crumb, sediment, dregs, yeast”)), linking it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰrebʰ-, whence also Lithuanian drebėti (“to quiver, to tremble”). It is possible that all these terms derive from the same substrate continuum. Compare also Proto-Germanic *drupô (“drop”), commonly connected to Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to crumble, grind”).

τρέφω • (tréphō)

1. to make to grow, to increase, bring up, breed, rear (especially of children)
   1. (of slaves, cattle, etc.) to rear and keep, raise
   2. to tend, cherish
   3. (of parts of the body) to let grown, cherish, foster
   4. (poetic, of earth and sea) to breed, produce, teem with
   5. (poetic) to have within oneself, to contain, keep, have
2. to maintain, support
   1. (in historical writers) to maintain an army
   2. (of land) to feed, maintain one
3. to bring up, rear, educate
4. to thicken, congeal, curdle

• “τρέφω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “τρέφω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “τρέφω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• τρέφω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• τρέφω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “τρέφω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G5142 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.
  • board idem, page 86.
  • breed idem, page 97.
  • bring idem, page 99.
  • cater idem, page 118.
  • cherish idem, page 129.
  • cultivate idem, page 188.
  • educate idem, page 262.
  • entertain idem, page 277.
  • fatten idem, page 310.
  • feed idem, page 313.
  • foster idem, page 340.
  • grow idem, page 376.
  • harbour idem, page 385.
  • keep idem, page 467.
  • maintain idem, page 508.
  • nourish idem, page 562.
  • nurse idem, page 563.
  • nurture idem, page 563.
  • rear idem, page 676.
  • support idem, page 841.
  • sustain idem, page 846.
  • teach idem, page 859.
  • train idem, page 886.

Inherited from Ancient Greek τρέφω (tréphō), probably from Proto-Hellenic *tʰrépʰō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɾe.fo/
• Hyphenation: τρέ‧φω

τρέφω • (tréfo) (past έθρεψα, passive τρέφομαι, p‑past τράφηκα, ppp θρεμμένος)

1. (transitive) to feed, nourish, maintain
2. (intransitive) to heal, be raised

• (feed): ταΐζω (taḯzo)