χάρτης

Ancient Greek

Etymology

According to Strong's Biblical concordance, from χαράσσω (kharássō, “I scratch, inscribe”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to scratch”). Modern scholarship rejects this (Beeks, Chantraine) and considers the etymology unknown. An Egyptian derivation was supposed, without any convincing etymon found, because of the Egyptian origin of papyrus. Consistent with the Phoenician influence on Greece in the field of writing (the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet), it has been suggested that χάρτης could derive from the Phoenician word ḥrṭit (𐤇𐤓𐤈𐤉𐤕, Hebrew letters חרטית, ḫartit) interpreted as 'something written', cognate with Biblical Hebrew ḫereṭ חֶרֶט 'stylus' or by extension 'style of writing'.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰár.tɛːs/ → /ˈxar.tis/ → /ˈxar.tis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰár.tɛːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰar.te̝s/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈxar.tis/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈxar.tis/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈxar.tis/

Noun

χᾰ́ρτης • (khártēs) m (genitive χᾰ́ρτου); first declension

1. sheet of paper, paper
2. book

Inflection

First declension of ὁ χᾰ́ρτης; τοῦ χᾰ́ρτου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ χᾰ́ρτης ho khártēs	τὼ χᾰ́ρτᾱ tṑ khártā	οἱ χᾰ́ρται hoi khártai
Genitive	τοῦ χᾰ́ρτου toû khártou	τοῖν χᾰ́ρταιν toîn khártain	τῶν χᾰρτῶν tôn khartôn
Dative	τῷ χᾰ́ρτῃ tôi khártēi	τοῖν χᾰ́ρταιν toîn khártain	τοῖς χᾰ́ρταις toîs khártais
Accusative	τὸν χᾰ́ρτην tòn khártēn	τὼ χᾰ́ρτᾱ tṑ khártā	τοὺς χᾰ́ρτᾱς toùs khártās
Vocative	χᾰ́ρτᾰ khárta	χᾰ́ρτᾱ khártā	χᾰ́ρται khártai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• χαρτίον (khartíon)
• χαρτοθήκη (khartothḗkē)

 

Descendants

• Greek: χάρτης (chártis)
  • → Romanian: hartă
• → Aramaic:

  Syriac script: ܟܼܲܪܛܝܼܣܵܐ (ḵarṭīsā), ܟܪܛܐܣܐ

  Hebrew script: כַּרְטִיסָא (karṭīsā), קַרְטִיסָא (qarṭīsā), קַרְטָאסָא (qarṭāsā),

  • → Arabic: قِرْطَاس (qirṭās), قَرْطَس (qarṭas) (obsolete), قُرْطَاس (qurṭās) (see there for further descendants)
• → Bulgarian: хартия (hartija)
• → Hebrew: כַּרְטִיס (kartís)
• → Latin: charta (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Armenian: քարտ (kʻart), քարտէզ (kʻartēz), քարտէն (kʻartēn), քարտէս (kʻartēs)
  • → Armenian: քարտ (kʻart), քարտեզ (kʻartez), քարտես (kʻartes)
  • → Georgian: ქარტეზი (karṭezi)
• → Russian: хартия (xartija)
• ⇒ Koine Greek: χαρτίον (khartíon)
  • Greek: χαρτί (chartí) (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• “χάρτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χάρτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• χάρτης 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
• G5489 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

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Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χάρτης (“a papyrus scroll”). Doublet of κάρτα (kárta, “card”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxartis/
• Hyphenation: χάρ‧της

Noun

χάρτης • (chártis) m (plural χάρτες)

1. (navigation) map, chart
2. charter, project charter, constitution

   καταστατικός χάρτης ― katastatikós chártis ― charter

3. (dated) synonym of χαρτί n (chartí, “paper”) in the set phrase

   εμπόριο χάρτου (empório chártou, “trading of paper”)

Declension

Declension of χάρτης

	singular	plural
nominative	χάρτης •	χάρτες •
genitive	χάρτη •	χαρτών •
accusative	χάρτη •	χάρτες •
vocative	χάρτη •	χάρτες •
Formal dated genitive singular: χάρτου

Derived terms

• άσκηση επί χάρτου (áskisi epí chártou)
• ο Χάρτης του ΟΗΕ (o Chártis tou OIE, “Charter of the United Nations”)

Related terms

• χαρτο-, χαρτό-, χαρτ-
• χάρτα f (chárta, “chart”) (dated, formal)
• χαρτί n (chartí, “paper”) and derivatives

Related to maps:

• αχαρτογράφητος (achartográfitos, “uncharted”)
• χαρτογράφηση f (chartográfisi, “mapping, making a map”)
• χαρτογραφία f (chartografía, “cartography”)
• χαρτογραφικός (chartografikós, adjective)
• χαρτογράφος m or f (chartográfos, “cartographer”)
• χαρτογραφώ (chartografó, “to map”)

Descendants

• → Romanian: hartă