βάρος

Forms

βᾰ́ρος (báros) n (genitive βᾰ́ρους or βᾰ́ρεος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a neuter noun formed from Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús, “heavy”), with which it shares its root.^[1][2][3] It appears in compounds such as οἰνοβαρής (oinobarḗs, “heavy with wine”) already in Homer, though as a simple word only later.^[2] βαρύς comes from Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥h₂-ú- (“heavy”); Latin gravis (“heavy”) has another grade of the root.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example in the GLAUx corpus is a fragment of the epic Cypria;^[4][3] Aeschylus has it for a heavy load and for the burden of grief.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its senses run from physical weight, heaviness (Herodotus, Aristotle's physics), to any heavy load, and to weight felt as pressure or force, of a mass of troops or of water against a dam.^[6][5] Figuratively it is a burden of grief, misfortune or duty (Sophocles, Xenophon), and also weight in the sense of influence, strength or importance.^[6][5][7] In papyri and Artemidorus, “to set down the weight” means to give birth.^[5]

In the New Testament it is only figurative: the burden of a day's work, the “weight of glory”, and the weight or authority someone claims.^[7][8] Modern Greek βάρος (város) continues the word, both for weight in physics and for a burden.^[9]

Timeline

• 7th century BC – A fragment of the Cypria has the earliest example in the GLAUx corpus.^[4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a load and for grief.^[5][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for physical weight.^[6][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for weight in physics and mechanics.^[5][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the weight of ships and the mass of an army.^[6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it only figuratively, for burden and weight of glory.^[7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek βάρος (város) means weight and burden.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Weight, heaviness.^[6][5]
2. A heavy load or mass; a burden.^[6][5]
3. Weight exerting force; pressure (of armies, of water).^[6]
4. A feeling of heaviness in the body.^[6]
5. (figurative) A burden of grief, misfortune or duty.^[6][5][7]
6. (figurative) Weight, influence, importance.^[6][7]

Word family

• βαρύνω (barúnō)

Related words

• ἀβαρής (abarḗs)
• βαρύθω (barúthō)
• βαρύλλιον (barúllion)
• βαρύς (barús)
• βαρύτης (barútēs)
• ἰσοβαρής (isobarḗs)

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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
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. ^ 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 c d e 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
8. ^ Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki