Etymologically
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θάρσος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /tʰár.sos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈθar.sos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈθar.sos/[1]

Forms

θᾰ́ρσος (thársos) n (genitive θᾰ́ρσεος or θᾰ́ρσους or θᾰ́ρσευς); third declension[1] Attic θάρρος, Aeolic θέρσος.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰers- (“to dare”), as an s-stem noun.[4][1] Beekes takes the older form to be Aeolic θέρσος (thérsos), replaced by θάρσος and θράσος (thrásos) under the influence of the adjective θρασύς (thrasús, “bold”).[4] Van Beek, like Chantraine, posits an older adjective *θαρσύς (*tharsús), with -αρ- from syllabic /r̥/, behind θάρσος and the verb θαρσύνω (tharsū́nō).[5]

Greek has only the denominative verbs θαρσέω (tharséō) and θαρσύνω (tharsū́nō), while other languages have primary verbs: Sanskrit धृष्णोति (dhṛṣṇóti, “to be bold”), Lithuanian drįsti (“to dare”) and English dare.[4][1]

The Etymologicum Magnum, after Herodian, derived it from θέρω (thérō, “to heat”), because those who are hot are bold.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for courage, the confidence that a god puts into a warrior's or a girl's heart.[2][5][7] Rarely it is reckless audacity: Athena puts into Menelaus the persistence of a fly.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Attic prose θάρσος (Attic θάρρος) and θράσος became distinct: θάρσος is courage and confidence, θράσος audacity and insolence.[5][2] It is also what gives courage, and in the plural the grounds for confidence.[2] In the Acts of the Apostles Paul “took courage” on seeing the brothers.[8][2]

The Modern Greek θάρρος (thárros) continues the Attic form and means courage or boldness.[9][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of a warrior's courage and, rarely, of reckless audacity.[2][11]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of what gives courage to friends.[2][12]
  • 4th century BC – Plato uses it of courage against enemies.[2][12]
  • 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles uses the phrase “to take courage”.[8][2]
  • Modern Greek – The Attic form Modern Greek θάρρος (thárros) means courage.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Courage, confidence.[2][8]
  2. That which gives courage; in the plural, grounds for confidence.[2]
  3. (rare) Audacity, recklessness, like θράσος (thrásos).[2]

Word family

  • εὐθαρσής (eutharsḗs)
  • θαρσαλέος (tharsaléos)
  • θαρσαλέως (tharsaléōs)
  • θαρσέω (tharséō)
  • θαρσήεις (tharsḗeis)
  • θάρσυνος (thársunos)
  • θαρσοποιός (tharsopoiós)
  • θαρσύνω (tharsū́nō)
  • θρασύς (thrasús)
  • θράσος (thrásos)
  • English dare

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek: Linguistic Prehistory of the Greek Dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  7. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  8. ^ a b c 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge