# κέντρον
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱent-r-om (“pointed tool”), from *ḱent- (“to prick; point”); direct cognate with Albanian çandër (“forked pole”) and probably Old Armenian սանտր (santr), սանդր (sandr, “comb”).
Equivalent to κεντέω (kentéō, “I sting”) +‎ -τρον (-tron).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kén.tron/ → /ˈcen.tron/ → /ˈcen.dron/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /kén.tron/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈken.tron/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈcen.tron/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈcen.tron/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈcen.dron/

### Noun

κέντρον • (kéntron) n (genitive κέντρου); second declension
* Something with a sharp point: point, spike, spur
* sting, quill, thorn
* Torture device or instrument of motivation: whip, goad
* nail, rivet
* stationary point of a pair of compasses
* center of a circle
* (figuratively, vulgar) penis
** Sotades on Ptolemy II's incestuous marriage, cited by Plutarch, De liberis educandis 11a, and Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 14.621a:
    εἰς οὐχ ὁσίην τρυμαλιὴν τὸ κέντρον ὠθεῖς.eis oukh hosíēn trumaliḕn tò kéntron ōtheîs.You're sticking your prick in an unholy hole.

#### Related terms

* κεστός (kestós)

#### Descendants

* → Aramaic:
    Classical Syriac: ܩܢܛܪܘܢ (qenṭrōn, qanṭrōn)
* → Georgian: კენტრო (ḳenṭro)
* Greek: κέντρο (kéntro)
* → Latin: centrum (see there for further descendants)
* → Old Armenian: կենդրովն (kendrovn), կենտրովն (kentrovn), կենտրոն (kentron)
** Armenian: կենտրոն (kentron), կեդրոն (kedron)
* → Sanskrit: केन्द्र (kendra) (see there for further descendants)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κεντέω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 672-3

### Further reading

* “κέντρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “κέντρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “κέντρον”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* κέντρον 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
* κέντρον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “κέντρον”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G2759 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* κέντρον in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. barb idem, page 62.goad idem, page 365.incentive idem, page 427.incitement idem, page 428.pang idem, page 591.peg idem, page 602.point idem, page 623.prick idem, page 640.rowel idem, page 723.smart idem, page 786.spur idem, page 806.stimulant idem, page 817.stimulus idem, page 817.sting idem, page 817.