αὐστηρός

Forms

αὐστηρός (austērós) m (feminine αὐστηρᾱ́, neuter αὐστηρόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

from Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”), from the family of the verb αὔω (aúō), “to dry”.^[2][3][4] Beekes notes that it and αὐσταλέος (austaléos), “dried up”, presuppose a verbal adjective *αὖστος (*aûstos), to which the suffix -ηρός (-ērós) was added.^[2][5] The adjective αὖος (aûos) goes back to Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *h₂sews- (“to be dry”), and is cognate with Lithuanian saũsas, Old Church Slavonic соухъ (suxŭ) and Old English sēar, all meaning “dry”.^[2][1][6]

Ancient writers derived it from the same verb: the Etymologicum Magnum explains it through the future αὔσω (aúsō), “I shall dry”, and glosses it as astringent, dry and sullen.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 5th century BC, in the Pythagorean Menestor and the Hippocratic writings, of harsh plant juices and of dry, astringent wine.^[5][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a taste that dries the tongue: Plato calls plain water “austere” beside honey, and Aristotle sets dry wine against sweet.^[3][4][5] From taste the word passed to character and style: Plato's Republic prefers the “more austere” poet,^[3][4] Aristotle opposes the austere man to the witty one,^[5] and Polybius calls the Arcadians austere in their way of life, and his own history austere in its matter.^[3][4][5]

In the Roman period it often meant severe and exacting: a papyrus of the 2nd century AD warns that a finance inspector is a very strict man, and in Luke's parable the servant fears his master because he is a harsh man.^[9][5] It was borrowed into Latin as austerus,^[10] through which English austere came, recorded from the early 14th century.^[11] Modern Greek αυστηρός (afstirós) is a learned continuation, partly shaped by French strict and sévère.^[12]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Menestor and the Hippocratic writings use it of sour juices and astringent wine.^[5][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of plain water and of a severe poet.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of a dry taste and smell and of austere character.^[3][5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of an austere way of life and an austere work.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – Luke's Gospel uses it of a harsh, exacting master.^[9][3]
• Early 14th century – English austere is recorded, from Old French and Latin.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dry, harsh or astringent to the taste, of juices and wine; of water, plain.^[3][4][5]
2. Rough, rugged, of country.^[3][5]
3. Austere, strict and sober in one's way of life.^[4][9]
4. Severe and unadorned, of a poet, a style or a work.^[3][4]
5. Severe, exacting, harsh, of people and their manner.^[4][9]

Related words

• αὖος (aûos)
• αὐσταλέος (austaléos)
• Latin austerus
• English austere

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki