γένος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ɡé.nos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈʝe.nos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈʝe.nos/^[1]

Forms

γένος (génos) n (genitive γένεος or γένους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *génos, an old verbal noun of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born, become”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to be born”).^[1][2][3] It is identical in form and meaning with Latin genus (“birth, kind”), and matches Sanskrit जनस् (jánas), found once in the Rigveda, and Old Armenian ծին (cin, “birth”).^[2][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it from the Iliad (2.852) for race, stock and descent: “of one race and one homeland” (Iliad 13.354), and “not to shame the race of your fathers” (Iliad 6.209).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is line of descent, birth, and so the family, the clan and the descendants (the Odyssey, elegy, Pindar, Herodotus, tragedy).^[7][1] Herodotus and Thucydides use it for a people or nation and for a tribe within it.^[7] It also meant a breed or race of beings: gods, mortals, Centaurs, women.^[7] Plato and Aristotle made it a technical term for a class or genus, under which the εἶδος (eîdos) is a species.^[6]

Its derivative γενικός (genikós) “of the γένος” gave the grammatical γενική (genikḗ) “genitive”.^[2] It is very often the second part of adjectives in -γενής (-genḗs).^[2][4] Modern Greek γένος is a learned word.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for race and descent.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a people and a tribe.^[7][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a class.^[6][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a genus.^[6][3]
• Modern Greek – γένος survives as a learned word.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Descent, lineage, birth.^[7][3]
2. A family, clan, house; descendants, offspring.^[7][1]
3. A people, nation, race; a tribe.^[7][1]
4. A breed or race of beings.^[7]
5. (philosophy) A class, kind, genus.^[6]

Related words

• γενεά (geneā́)
• γένεσις (génesis)
• -γενής (-genḗs)
• γέννα (génna)
• γίγνομαι (gígnomai)
• γόνος (gónos)
• Latin genus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki