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εἶδος

Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word εἶδος

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Homer, Iliad
Inherited from
Proto-Hellenic *wéidos
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*weyd-)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /êː.dos/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈi.ðos/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈi.ðos/[1]

Forms

εἶδος (eîdos) n (genitive εἴδους or εἴδεος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *wéidos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wéydos (“seeing, image”), from *weyd- (“to see”).[1] It is the verbal noun belonging to ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”), the old thematic aorist of this root, whose perfect is οἶδα (oîda, “I know”);[2][3] Alcman's form ϝεῖδος (weîdos) keeps the initial /w/.[4]

It is formally identical with Sanskrit वेदस् (védas, “property, acquisition”), which kept the sense “find” of the Sanskrit aorist.[3] Closer in meaning are Old Church Slavonic видъ (vidŭ, “look, form”), Lithuanian véidas (“face”) and Old High German wīsa (“manner”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for a person's appearance or figure, usually implying good looks, as in “best in looks” (Iliad 2.715), and once for a dog's looks (Odyssey 17.308).[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus uses it for beauty of person, and the Hippocratic writers for physique and constitution.[6] From there it came to mean form, kind and nature, a state of things, and a type or class.[6] Plato uses it for a logical species and, like ἰδέα (idéā), for the Forms of his philosophy;[6] Aristotle sets it as form against matter, and as species under the genus.[6] Frisk refers to Brommer's study of how Plato uses εἶδος and ἰδέα.[3]

In the New Testament it is outward form: the Spirit descending “in bodily form” like a dove (Luke 3:22).[7] Later Greek used the plural for goods of different kinds and for payments in kind.[6] Its diminutive εἰδύλλιον (eidúllion) is the source of idyll.[3] Modern Greek είδος “kind, species” is a learned borrowing of it.[1]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a person's looks.[5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for beauty;[6] Hippocratic writers for constitution.[6][4]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a logical species and for the Forms.[6][4]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for form as opposed to matter.[6][4]
  • 1st century AD – Luke uses it for the bodily form of the Spirit.[7]
  • 2nd–3rd century AD – Papyri use it for goods.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Appearance, form, figure; good looks.[6][8][5]
  2. (medicine) Physique, constitution.[6]
  3. Shape, pattern.[6]
  4. Kind, nature, sort; a state of things; a course of action.[6]
  5. A class;[6] (logic) a species.[6]
  6. (philosophy) A Platonic Form;[6] (Aristotle) form as opposed to matter.[6]
  7. (late) Goods; payments in kind.[6]

Word family

  • εἰδητικός (eidētikós)
  • εἴδωλον (eídōlon)
  • εἰδάλιμος (eidálimos)
  • εἰδότης (eidótēs)
  • εἰδύλλιον (eidúllion)
  • English eidos
  • English idyll

Usage notes

A separate, rare noun εἶδος “heat” occurs in Empedocles and Callimachus and is glossed by Hesychius; the DGE connects it with ἱδρώς (hīdrṓs) “sweat”.[4][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Εἶδος.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%B5%E1%BC%B6%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%82. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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