[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: cheirotoneo



At 3:28 PM -0400 5/30/97, Tim Kuns wrote:
>Could someone please give me a hand (no pun intended) with the etymology
>of this word.  I know cheir refers to hand.  It is the second part of
>the word I need help with.

It's the root TEN/TON/TA (=TN): "stretch," "extend"--so the verb means to
VOTE by extending (raising) the hand--or as we would say, to vote by a show
of hands in favor or opposed.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



References: