εὕω

Forms

εὕω (heúō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *éuhō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éwseti, from *h₁ews- (“to burn, singe”).^[1][2][3] It is identical with Latin ūrō (“to burn”) and Sanskrit ओषति (óṣati, “burns”).^[2][4] The /s/ between vowels was lost and its breath moved to the start of the word, giving the rough breathing.^[2][4] The /s/ survives in εὐστόν (eustón, “singed sacrificial animal”) and εὕστρα (heústra, “singeing-place”).^[2][4]

Germanic has zero-grade derivatives of the root such as Old Norse usli (“glowing ashes”) and Middle High German usele;^[2] Wiktionary adds Old English ǣmerġe, the source of English ember.^[1] An old verb, it was pushed aside by καίω (kaíō) and kept mostly to a technical sense.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is the singeing of the bristles off pigs before they are cooked: in the Iliad swine “being singed lay stretched across the flame” (9.468), and the Odyssey describes the same work (2.300, 14.75).^[5][6][7] The Odyssey also uses it of the hot blast that singed the Cyclops' eyelids and brows (9.389).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it figuratively of a bad wife, who “singes” her husband without a torch, that is, wears him out (Works and Days 705).^[5][7] Its compounds ἀφεύω (apheúō) (Semonides, Aristophanes) and ἐφεύω (epheúō) (Nicander) are attested, and the simple verb appears later in Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch.^[4][8] Hesychius glosses it with καίω (kaíō) and φλογίζω (phlogízō).^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of singeing swine.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of a wife who wears out her husband.^[5][10]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it.^[8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it.^[8][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To singe, especially to singe off the bristles of swine before cooking.^[5][7]
2. Of fire or a hot blast, to singe (eyelids and brows).^[7][6]
3. (figurative) To wear out, consume (of a shrewish wife).^[7][5]

Word family

• ἀφεύω (apheúō)
• ἐφεύω (epheúō)
• εὕστρα (heústra)
• εὐστόν (eustón)

Related words

• Latin ūrō
• English ember

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d e 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 f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge