δέος

Forms

δέος (déos) n (genitive δέους); third declension^[1] Homeric genitive δείους; a rare genitive δέατος in Sophocles.^[2]

Etymology

It is a verbal abstract noun of δείδω (deídō, “to fear”), from an older *δϝεῖος (*dweîos).^[3][4] Wiktionary takes it as the s-stem noun from Proto-Indo-European *dwey- (“to fear”), the root that also gave δεινός (deinós).^[1] The initial /dw/ is assured by Homeric metre, which still treats the word as beginning with two consonants (the genitive ⟨δείους⟩ is written for an older ⟨δϝέεος⟩).^[5][2]

Beekes connects the verb with an Avestan word for “threat” and, with an s-extension, a Sanskrit verb meaning “to hate”, and perhaps with Latin dīrus (“fearful”).^[3] Chantraine finds the closest match in the Armenian verb for “to fear”, a comparison that Kortlandt rejects, according to Beekes.^[5][3] Chantraine and Beekes think the root may come in the end from the word for “two”, as in δίς (dís), fear being the state of a mind divided by doubt.^[5][3]

Ancient writers derived it from δέω (déō, “to bind”), since fear binds (Chrysippus), or from the verb “to fear” itself (Philoxenus).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[3][7] Its first occurrence in the Iliad (1.515) has the sense “cause for fear”: Thetis tells Zeus that he has nothing to fear in granting her request.^[2][8] Elsewhere in Homer it is the fear that seizes warriors, the “pale fear” (χλωρὸν δέος) of the Iliad.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek δέος was the ordinary word for fear and dread, used with a genitive of what is feared or with a clause “that something may happen”.^[7][2] Thucydides and Lysias also use it of a means of inspiring fear, a threat, and the plural δέη is rare.^[7][2] In Aeschylus it is also the awe felt before a superior power.^[2]

Grammarians distinguished it from φόβος (phóbos): δέος is a lasting expectation of harm, φόβος the sudden fright of the moment.^[9][2] In the New Testament it occurs once, in the Letter to the Hebrews, of the awe owed to God.^[10]

It survives as Modern Greek δέος (déos), a learned word taken over from the ancient one.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of fear in battle and of a reason for fear.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus pairs it with φόβος (phóbos), and Thucydides uses it of a threat that inspires fear.^[2][7][13]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of reverent awe.^[2][13]
• 1st–2nd century AD – The grammarian Ammonius sets it apart from phóbos as a longer-lasting fear.^[9][2][13]
• 1st century AD – The Letter to the Hebrews uses it of awe before God.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The word survives as a learned term.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Fear, dread, alarm, sometimes with the genitive of what is feared.^[2][7]
2. A cause or reason for fear.^[2][7]
3. A means of inspiring fear; a threat.^[7][2]
4. Reverent awe, as before a god or a ruler.^[2][10]

Word family

• ἀδεής (ādeḗs)
• θεουδής (theoudḗs)

Related words

• δείδω (deídō)
• δεινός (deinós)
• δειλός (deilós)

Usage notes

Ammonius distinguishes δέος, a lasting apprehension of harm, from φόβος, a sudden fright, and cites Herodotus pairing the two words.^[9] Both words appear together in the orators as well.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c [Ammonius], De adfinium vocabulorum differentia, ed. K. Nickau (Leipzig: Teubner, 1966)
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge