Etymologically
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δείδω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /děː.dɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈði.ðo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈði.ðo/[1]

Forms

δείδω (deídō) [1]

Etymology

It is an old perfect, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dedwóye (“to be afraid”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwey- (“to fear”).[1][2] The present-looking δείδω continues *dédwoia, and the plural δείδιμεν (deídimen) continues *dédwimen.[3][4]

The initial /dw/ is still felt in Homer's metre: the epic perfect δείδοικα (deídoika) stands for *dédwoika, and the aorist ἔδδεισε (éddeise) is written with a double δ because it continues *édweise, where the lost ϝ still lengthened the syllable.[3][5] Chantraine adds that Homer has δείδω only at the start of the line, and that δείδια (deídia) was created to give a dactyl.[4] Attic simplified these forms to δέδοικα (dédoika) and δέδια (dédia).[3][4]

Beekes compares an Avestan word for “threat” and the Sanskrit verb for “to hate”, and perhaps Latin dīrus (“fearful”); the LIV adds Cuneiform Luwian kuwaya- (“to be afraid”) and Tocharian A wiyo (“frightened”).[3][2] Kortlandt rejects the comparison with the Armenian verb for “to fear”, which Chantraine thought closest in sense.[3][4] Chantraine and Beekes think that “fear” comes from the root of δύω (dúō, “two”) and δίς (dís, “twice”), the idea being doubt between two choices.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer the verb means to fear someone or something, or to be afraid that something will happen; the Iliad has the aorist ἔδεισεν in its first book.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb remained the common word for “to fear” from Homer on.[6] Attic prose used the perfects δέδοικα and δέδια with present meaning, and the aorist ἔδεισα; the form δείδω itself is epic and Alexandrian.[5][4] Doric of Sicily made a new present δεδοίκω with a future δεδοικήσω.[3][4]

From the same root come δέος (déos, “fear”), δεῖμα (deîma, “terror”), δειλός (deilós, “cowardly”) and δεινός (deinós, “terrible”).[3]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses the aorist and the perfect for fearing.[6][7]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod has the old aorist ἔδδεισε.[7][8]
  • 6th century BC – Theognis uses the perfect δέδοικα.[5][8]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses the plural δέδιμεν.[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fear or be afraid of someone or something.[6][5]
  2. To be afraid or frightened; to fear that something may happen.[6]
  3. To be worried about someone or something.[6]

Word family

  • ὑποδείδω (hupodeídō)
  • περιδείδια (perideídia)
  • δεῖμα (deîma)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge