διφυής

Forms

δῐφῠής (diphuḗs) m or f (neuter δῐφῠές); third declension^[1]

Etymology

A compound: from Ancient Greek δι- (di-, “two-, double”) + φυή (phuḗ, “growth, nature”) + -ής (-ḗs), with the adjective ending -ής: “of double nature”.^[1][2] The first element is the combining form of δίς (dís, “twice”), and φυή (phuḗ) is the noun of φύω (phúō, “to grow, to bring forth”).^[2][1] The same pattern gives εὐφυής (euphuḗs, “well-grown, gifted”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the 5th century BC for beings of a double, half-human form: Herodotus applies it to the snake-woman, half maiden and half viper, whom the Scythians made the mother of their race, and Sophocles' Heracles to the Centaurs.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed tied to mixed beings: Plato's Cratylus uses it of Pan, half man and half goat, and later writers of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, represented as man above and serpent below.^[3][4] Ancient scholars reinterpreted Cecrops' double nature as double sex, or as double race, Egyptian and Greek, and Tzetzes even as two languages.^[4][3] In Orphic poetry it describes Eros and other androgynous deities.^[4][3]

Aristotle gave it a neutral anatomical sense, “twofold, paired”, for organs that come in pairs such as the eyebrows and breasts, and Galen called the biceps the “double” muscle.^[3][4] Christian writers of the 4th and 5th centuries used it in the debates about the natures of Christ.^[4]

Modern Greek has it as a learned word, Modern Greek διφυής (difyís), “of a double nature” (the centaur is a “double-natured being”) and, in medicine, “made of two like parts”.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus calls the Scythian snake-maiden “of double form”, and Sophocles uses it of the Centaurs.^[3][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of Pan.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of paired organs: eyebrows, breasts, nostrils.^[3][4]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus explains the double nature of Cecrops as a double, Egyptian and Greek, descent.^[3][4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen applies it to the biceps.^[3][4]
• 4th–5th century AD – Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril of Alexandria use it in the controversies about Christ's natures.^[4]
• Modern Greek – διφυής (difyís) survives as a learned word for something of a double nature.^[5][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of double nature or form, half human and half animal, as Centaurs, Pan or Cecrops.^[3][4]
2. Of double sex, androgynous.^[4]
3. Of double race or descent.^[4][3]
4. Twofold, paired, of organs that come in pairs.^[3][4]
5. (Christianity) Having two natures.^[4]

Related words

• φυή (phuḗ)
• φύω (phúō)
• δίς (dís)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
6. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr