Everyday LifeGreek → English
Krater
/ˈkreɪtər/noun
A wide-mouthed ancient Greek vessel in which wine was mixed with water before serving.
The Greek roots
κρατήρ
kratḗr
mixing bowl
κεράννυμι
keránnymi
to mix
Literally: “mixer”
The story of the word
Drinking wine unmixed marked you as a barbarian, so the krater sat at the centre of the symposium and the host set the ratio for the evening. The same word, meaning simply a big bowl, was applied to the hollow at the top of a volcano, which is how English ended up with crater. Archaeologists keep the k-spelling for the pot and leave the c to the geologists.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
crateridiosyncrasydyscrasia
In a sentence
The red-figure krater in the corner case shows Herakles being served by satyrs.