δεινός

Forms

δεινός (deinós) m (feminine δεινή, neuter δεινόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dweynós,^[1] from the root *dwey- (“fear”).^[1][2] The Greek form goes back to *δϝεινός (*dweinós), a verbal adjective of the root of δείδω (deídō, “to fear”).^[2][3] Beekes notes another possible analysis, from a base *δϝειεσ-νός (*dweies-nós) with early contraction, on the model of κλεινός (kleinós) beside ἀκλεής (akleḗs).^[2] LSJ relates it to δέος (déos, “fear”).^[4]

Cognate with Latin dīrus (“dreadful”) and Old Armenian երկն (erkn).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it means fearful, terrible, of persons and things: Charybdis, a war-cry, weapons.^[4][5][6] Homer often uses the neuter as an adverb, “terribly”, of shouting or glaring.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer the sense widened from “fearful” to “marvellously strong, mighty” and “wondrous, strange”, for anything that inspires awe.^[4][5] Herodotus first uses it of people who are clever and skilful, and with an infinitive it means clever at doing something.^[4][5] Attic prose also has the phrase δεινὸν ποιεῖσθαι, “to take something badly, be indignant”, and the neuter τὸ δεινόν “danger”.^[5][7]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word with its ancient sense.^[8] Modern Greek δεινός (deinós) is a learned word, used mainly of someone highly skilled, such as a gifted speaker or swimmer.^[9] English dinosaur was coined in Modern Latin in 1841 from its stem and the word for “lizard”.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for what is fearful or terrible.^[4][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus first uses it of a clever, skilful man.^[4][5][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use δεινὸν ποιεῖσθαι for “to be indignant”.^[5][3]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it with an infinitive for “apt, liable to do something”.^[5][3]
• 1841 – The English dinosaur is coined from its stem in Modern Latin.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fearful, terrible, frightening.^[4][5]
2. Dangerous, threatening; as a noun, τὸ δεινόν, a danger.^[5][7]
3. Dreadful, awful, of events and sufferings; in the phrase δεινὸν ποιεῖσθαι, to take something badly, be indignant.^[5]
4. Inspiring awe: mighty, wondrous, strange.^[4][5]
5. Clever, skilful, cunning; with an infinitive, clever at doing something.^[4][5]
6. Apt, liable to do something.^[5]

Word family

• δεινόν (deinón)
• δεινότης (deinótēs)

Related words

• δείδω (deídō)
• δέος (déos)
• Latin dīrus
• English dinosaur

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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
3. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b 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. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com