αὖ

Forms

αὖ (aû) adverb^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew (“away, again”).^[2][1] It matches Latin au- in aufugiō “flee away”, Lithuanian au- and the Old Church Slavonic prefix u- “away from”, and is probably related to a Sanskrit adverb meaning “down”.^[2][3] Wiktionary compares Albanian a “or”.^[1] It also forms adverbs and particles such as αὖτε (aûte), αὐτάρ (autár), αὖτις (aûtis) and αὖθις (aûthis), and the pronoun αὐτός (autós); compare auti and Latin aut and autem.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it means “again, once more”, often with numerals (τρίτον αὖ “a third time”), and in a question it expresses impatience, as in “who now again…?” in the first book of the Iliad.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

From “again” it came to mean “further, moreover”, and, answering a clause with μέν (mén) or joined with δέ (dé), “on the other hand, in turn”.^[5][6] Homer also used it for answering in speech, and it never stands at the beginning of its clause.^[6][8] It is mainly poetic, but Plato and Xenophon use it too, with αὖθις (aûthis) and πάλιν (pálin).^[3][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for “again” and “in turn”.^[5][6][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it with numerals in counting persons.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses καὶ ἔτι γε αὖ “and moreover again”.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Again, once more; with ordinals, in turn, next.^[5][6]
2. Further, moreover, in addition.^[5][6]
3. In response, in reply.^[6]
4. On the other hand, but.^[5][6]

Related words

• αὖθις (aûthis)
• αὐτάρ (autár)
• αὖτε (aûte)
• αὖτις (aûtis)
• αὐτός (autós)

Usage notes

αὖ αὖ is also Aristophanes' imitation of a dog's bark, “bow-wow”, in the Wasps.^[6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ 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