θύος

Forms

θῠ́ος (thúos) n (genitive θῠ́εος); third declension^[1] The Linear B tablets have the plural Mycenaean Greek tu-we-a, “aromatic substances”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a primary derivative from Ancient Greek θύω (thúō, “to offer by burning”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke”).^[2][4][1][5] Latin tūs (“incense”) was borrowed from it.^[2][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean plural names aromatic products.^[2][3] In Homer the plural means burnt offerings of incense and the like: Hecuba is to go to Athena's temple with offerings, and men turn the gods with offerings and libations.^[7][5][8]

Semantic evolution

Homer and Hesiod use it mostly in the plural, of fragrant offerings burnt for the gods.^[7][5] Pape glosses it as incense used in sacrifice.^[9] In tragedy the offerings are animals, and Aeschylus calls a murder a sacrifice with it.^[7][5] Later the plural meant incense, and the comic poet Eupolis uses it of a sacrificial cake.^[5][3] Papyros sums up the history as a change from aromatic products to offerings to the gods in general.^[3]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The tablets record the plural Mycenaean Greek tu-we-a for aromatic products.^[2][3]
• Homer – The Iliad uses the plural for burnt offerings.^[10][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days joins it with libations.^[5][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the singular of a sacrifice.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Eupolis uses it of a sacrificial cake.^[5][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of a sacrificial animal.^[7][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mostly plural) A burnt offering of incense, cakes and the like.^[5][7]
2. A sacrifice; a sacrificial animal; figuratively, of a murder.^[7][5]
3. (plural) incense.^[5]
4. A sacrificial cake.^[5][3]

Word family

• θυοδόκος (thuodókos)
• θυόεις (thuóeis)
• θυοσκέω (thuoskéō)
• θυοσκόος (thuoskóos)
• θυόω (thuóō)

Related words

• θύω (thúō)
• Latin tūs

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 f Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge