αὐξάνω

Forms

αὐξάνω (auxánō) ^[1] The shorter present αὔξω (aúxō) is as common in Attic, and Homer has only ἀέξω (aéxō).^[2][3] Future αὐξήσω, aorist ηὔξησα, perfect ηὔξηκα; passive aorist ηὐξήθην.^[4][2]

Etymology

It is a present with the suffix -άνω (-ánō) beside the simple αὔξω (aúxō) and Homeric ἀέξω (aéxō),^[2] and Chantraine sees in the suffix a mark of the action reaching its end.^[3][5] In Beekes's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- (“to grow”), whose -s- was probably at first a present suffix.^[5][6] The same root with -s- gives Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wahsjan, “to grow”) and Sanskrit वक्षयति (vakṣáyati, “makes grow”),^[5] and LIV sets αὔξομαι (aúxomai) beside the zero-grade present uxšiieiti (“grows”).^[5][6]

A form without the -s-, *h₂eug-, is found in Latin augeō (“to increase”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 (aukan) and Lithuanian áugti (“to grow”),^[5] and Beekes takes both shapes of the root as old, the vowel having moved in the extended form, as in ἀλκή (alkḗ) beside ἀλέξω (aléxō).^[5] Babiniotis gives the same comparison with Latin and the Germanic verb behind German wachsen.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The passive is first found in Hesiod's Theogony, of a child growing up, and the form αὐξάνω itself in Pindar and Herodotus.^[2][8] Homer uses only ἀέξω (aéxō).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek the active means to make something larger or stronger: wealth, insolence, a city's power.^[2][4] Pindar and Sophocles use it for exalting a city or a person by deeds or praise, and Aristotle for an orator's amplifying a point.^[2] The passive means to grow, of children, plants and cities, and of the wind rising.^[2][4]

From Aristotle on the active is also used without an object, like the passive: “the moon waxes”; so too in the New Testament, where the word grows like a plant.^[2][9] Greek grammarians called the augment of verbs by this verb's name: a past tense “increases” the word.^[2]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the verb, and Modern Greek uses the learned αυξάνω (afxáno) for “increase”, with the passive “grow larger”.^[10][11] A cognate is Latin augeō, whose derivative augmentum gave Italian aumentare.^[7]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony uses the passive of a child growing.^[2][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for glorifying a city or one's fatherland.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses αὐξάνω for increasing insolence and the power of the Greeks.^[2][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the active intransitively, of the waxing moon, and for an orator's amplification.^[2][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses both αὐξάνω and αὔξω, often of growth as a plant grows.^[2][9]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts still use the verb.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned αυξάνω (afxáno) means “to increase”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To increase, make larger, in size, number or degree.^[2][4]
2. To make stronger or more powerful; to exalt or glorify by deeds or praise.^[2][4]
3. (rhetoric) To amplify or exaggerate.^[2]
4. To raise or rear (children, animals) to full size; to cultivate (plants).^[2][4]
5. (passive) To grow, increase, grow up; of the wind, to rise.^[2][4]
6. (active, intransitive, from Aristotle on) To grow; of the moon, to wax.^[2][9]
7. (grammar) Of verbs, to take the augment.^[2]

Word family

• αὔξησις (aúxēsis)
• αὐξητικός (auxētikós)
• αὐξητός (auxētós)
• αὔξη (aúxē)
• αὔξημα (aúxēma)

Related words

• ἀέξω (aéxō)
• αὔξω (aúxō)
• Latin augeō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c 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 d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f 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
6. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge