αἰγίς
Pronunciation
- IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ai̯.ɡís/[1]
- IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ɛˈʝis/[1]
- IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /eˈʝis/[1]
Forms
αἰγῐ́ς (aigís) f (genitive αἰγῐ́δος); third declension[1]
Etymology
It is usually taken as derived from αἴξ (aíx, “goat”), “goatskin”, formed like νεβρίς (nebrís, “fawnskin”) from νεβρός (nebrós, “fawn”).[2][3][1] Herodotus already took the aegis of Athena for a goatskin, a view that many modern scholars defend.[2][4]
Other explanations exist: a derivation from an unattested verb *αἴγω “to move, shake”, matching Sanskrit एजति (éjati, “moves, trembles”) (Kretschmer, Thumb), with αἴγλη “gleam”; or a link with αἴγειρος (aígeiros, “black poplar”), which would make it a wooden shield.[2][4][1] The sense “storm wind” was probably influenced by ἐπαιγίζω (epaigízō, “to rush upon”), used of winds.[2] Cunliffe thought the original idea was a storm cloud.[2][5][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
In the Iliad it is the terrifying shield of Zeus, which he shakes to rout armies.[4][5] Athena and Apollo also wield it, Athena casts it over Achilles' shoulders, and Apollo covers Hector's body with it.[5][3][4]
Semantic evolution
The CGL describes the Homeric aegis as apparently a metal shield covered with goatskin, fringed with golden tassels and bearing the Gorgon's head, Panic, Strife, Might and Rout.[6] Hesiod describes Athena shaking it so that the earth groans.[4] Later poets made it Athena's attribute and pictured it as a garment: in Pindar and Euripides it is fringed with snakes, in Aeschylus it is worn, and Euripides makes it of the Gorgon's skin.[6][3] Herodotus explains the aegis of Athena's statues from a goatskin dress.[4][3]
As an ordinary word it meant a goatskin, as in Euripides' Cyclops.[3][4] Aeschylus and Pherecrates use it for a storm wind, terrible as the shaken aegis.[3][6] Technical uses were the hard heartwood of the pine (Theophrastus) and a speck in the eye (Hippocrates).[3][1] Polybius uses it as a symbol of divine power.[6] English aegis, from Latin, means “protection” from 1793.[7]
Timeline
- Homer – the shield of Zeus, wielded by Athena and Apollo.[5][3]
- Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod describes Athena shaking it.[4]
- 5th century BC – Herodotus explains it as a goatskin dress.[3][4]
- 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a storm wind.[3][6][4]
- 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the heartwood of the pine.[3][4]
- 1793 – English aegis “protection”.[7]
Meanings
Noun
- The aegis, the shield of Zeus (Zeús), also borne by Athena and Apollo.[3][6]
- The aegis of Athena (Athēnâ), pictured as a garment fringed with snakes and bearing the Gorgon's head.[3][6]
- A goatskin worn as a garment.[3][6]
- A dress worn by the priestess of Athena, an ornament worn on the breast, or, in Laconian, a cuirass.[3]
- A rushing storm, a hurricane.[3][6]
- The heartwood of the pine.[3]
- (medicine) A speck in the eye.[3]
Word family
- αἰγίοχος (aigíokhos)
- ἐπαιγίζω (epaigízō)
- καταιγίζω (kataigízō)
- καταιγίς (kataigís)
- αἰγίζω (aigízō)
- αἴξ (aíx)
Related words
- English aegis
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com