εἴδωλον

Forms

εἴδωλον (eídōlon) n (genitive εἰδώλου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”) + -ωλον (-ōlon), with a diminutive suffix.^[1][2] Its base is related to εἴδομαι (eídomai, “to appear”) and to the stem of οἶδα (oîda, “I know”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a phantom: in the Iliad an illusory likeness of a living person made by a god, in the Odyssey a figure seen in a dream, and the shades of the dead are called phantoms of mortals.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

From an illusory or ghostly image it came to mean any unsubstantial form: Aeschylus speaks of the image of a shadow, and Sophocles calls men mere phantoms.^[5][6][4] Plato and Aristotle use it for an image reflected in a mirror or in water, Xenophon for an image in the mind, and Plato for a likeness opposed to the original, or an illusion.^[5][4] In Epicurus' philosophy it is the film given off by every object, which carries its impression to the eye.^[5] It also meant a made image, a statue or portrait.^[4]

The Septuagint uses it for the image of a god, an idol, since the gods of the nations were both unreal and made by hand, and the New Testament takes over this sense.^[7][8] It was borrowed into Latin as idolum, used in Church Latin for a false god,^[9][10] the source of French idole and of English idol,^[10] and English also borrowed eidolon in 1801.^[9][10]

Modern Greek είδωλο (eídolo) is a learned word for a reflected image, an idol of worship, and, by a semantic loan from French idole, an idol such as a star.^[11][2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for phantoms and the shades of the dead.^[5][4][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus speaks of “the image of a shadow”.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for reflections and for illusions as opposed to reality.^[5][6]
• Koine – The Septuagint uses it for the image of a god, an idol.^[7][8]
• Koine – The New Testament uses it for idols.^[8][4]
• Mid-13th century – English idol is recorded, from this word through Latin and Old French.^[10]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned Modern Greek είδωλο (eídolo).^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An illusory image of a living person made by a god; a phantom.^[4][5]
2. The ghost of a dead person, a shade.^[4][5]
3. Any unsubstantial form; of a person, a mere image.^[5][4]
4. An image reflected in a mirror or in water.^[5][4]
5. An image in the mind, an idea; a fancy.^[5]
6. (philosophy) In Epicurus, the film given off by an object that conveys its impression to the eye.^[5]
7. A made image, a statue or portrait.^[4]
8. A likeness as opposed to the original; an illusion.^[4]
9. (Septuagint, New Testament) The image of a god, an idol.^[7][8]
10. A group of stars forming an image, a constellation.^[4]

Word family

• εἰδωλολατρία (eidōlolatríā)
• εἰδωλεῖον (eidōleîon)

Related words

• εἶδος (eîdos)
• Latin idolum
• English idol
• English eidolon

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b c d 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
9. ^ a b Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux