Etymologically
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γένος

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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]
  • 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