Etymologically
Log in

βάρος

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 19:51. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /bá.ros/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈβa.ros/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈva.ros/[1]

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)
  • 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