αἶνος

Forms

αἶνος (aînos) m (genitive αἴνου); second declension^[1] Herodotus has a feminine αἴνη twice.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][4] Pokorny compared Germanic words for “oath” such as Old High German eid, a comparison that is mostly rejected.^[2][5][6]

Beside it stands the primary verb ἀναίνομαι (anaínomai, “to deny, refuse”), which Bechtel explained as *ἀνααίνομαι (*anaaínomai).^[2][4] From αἶνος come αἰνέω (ainéō, “to praise”), in Attic ἐπαινέω (epainéō), and αἰνίσσομαι (ainíssomai, “to speak in riddles”), whose sense developed from “to speak words full of meaning”, with αἴνιγμα (aínigma, “riddle”).^[2][4]

Ancient etymologists derived it from ἰαίνω (iaínō, “to warm, cheer”), because praise gladdens the soul.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means words or a tale with a meaning for the hearer (Iliad 23.652, Odyssey 14.508), and also praise (Iliad 23.795, Odyssey 21.110).^[3][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod and Archilochus use it of a fable with a moral, and later poets of a saying or proverb (Euripides, Theocritus, Callimachus) and of a riddle.^[9][10][11] In Sophocles it means advice.^[10][11] It is an epic, Ionic and poetic word; the usual Ionic-Attic word for praise is ἔπαινος (épainos).^[3][9] In Doric inscriptions it means a decree: at Epidaurus a decree of the Achaeans, and at Delphi κατ’ αἶνον is set against κατὰ ψήφισμα.^[9][11][3]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is praise given to God (Luke 18:43).^[12][9] Babiniotis traces the line from “narrative, speech” to “speech of praise” and then to the Hellenistic “praise of God”.^[13] Modern Greek uses it as a learned word for praise, and in the plural for the Lauds, the last psalms sung at the end of the morning office.^[14]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of meaningful words and of praise.^[9][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of a fable.^[9][11]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it of a fable.^[9][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and the tragedians use it for praise.^[9][10][11]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus uses it of a decree.^[11]
• 2nd century BC – An inscription from Delphi sets κατ’ αἶνον against κατὰ ψήφισμα.^[11][9]
• Modern Greek – It is a learned word for praise, and in the plural for the Lauds.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tale, story, words with a meaning for the hearer.^[9][10][11]
2. A fable with a moral.^[9][10]
3. Advice.^[10][11]
4. A saying, proverb.^[9][10]
5. A riddle.^[9][10][11]
6. Praise, and (Koine) praise given to God.^[9][10][12]
7. (Doric inscriptions) A decree, resolution.^[9][11]

Related words

• αἰνετός (ainetós)
• αἰνέω (ainéō)
• αἴνημι (aínēmi)
• αἴνιγμα (aínigma)
• αἰνίζομαι (ainízomai)
• αἰνίσσομαι (ainíssomai)
• ἀναίνομαι (anaínomai)
• ἔπαινος (épainos)
• ἐπαινέω (epainéō)

Usage notes

Photius glosses it as a proverbial saying, or praise and encomium, and quotes the opening of a riddle: αἶνός τίς ἐστιν ὡς ἀνήρ τε κοὐκ ἀνήρ “there is a riddle, that a man and not a man …”.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ Indo-European Lexicon (after Pokorny), Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/lex
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
13. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)