βοάω

Forms

βοᾰ́ω (boáō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is a verb in -άω (-áō), from Ancient Greek βοή (boḗ, “shout, cry”).^[1][2][3] Beekes allows both a deverbative formation like ποτάομαι (potáomai), with the noun as its verbal noun, and a denominative, and thinks the word is rather onomatopoeic.^[4]

A connection with Sanskrit जोगुवे (jóguve, “to speak loudly”), Lithuanian gaũsti (“to cry, weep”) and Old Church Slavonic words for noise is conceivable, but these may belong to γοάω (goáō) “to wail”.^[4][1] Babiniotis takes the verbs for shouting and wailing as parallel developments of one Indo-European root meaning “to shout”.^[5] βοηθέω (boēthéō) “to help” contains the same root.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to shout aloud, to call out in battle and assembly; the Iliad also uses it for waves roaring against the shore.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides people it could be said of the wind and the sea, which “roar” and make the cliffs “resound”.^[3] With an accusative it meant “call on” someone or “call for” something (Pindar, Herodotus, Sophocles), and with an infinitive “order loudly” (Xenophon).^[3][2] In the passive, Herodotus has deeds “noised abroad” through Ionia and Greece.^[3] The Septuagint and the New Testament use it for the shouts of a crowd and for prayers to God.^[7]

Latin boō was borrowed from Greek.^[4] Modern Greek keeps it as the learned Modern Greek βοώ (voó) “to shout”, with the set phrase φωνή βοώντος εν τη ερήμω, “a voice crying in the wilderness”.^[8][5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for shouting, and for the roar of the sea.^[3][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for calling on someone.^[3][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the passive for deeds noised abroad.^[3][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for shouted commands.^[3][9]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the shouts of crowds and for prayers.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shout, cry aloud, call out.^[3][2]
2. To raise a battle cry; to cry out in grief, anger or joy.^[2]
3. Of the wind and waves, to roar; to resound, echo.^[3]
4. To call on someone; to call for something.^[3][2]
5. To order in a loud voice.^[3]
6. (passive) To be noised abroad, celebrated; to be filled with sound.^[3]

Related words

• βοή (boḗ)
• βοηθέω (boēthéō)
• Latin boō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b 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. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge