κίω

Forms

κῐ́ω (kíō) ^[1] Nearly all forms are past or non-indicative: imperfect or aorist ἔκιον (ékion) (epic also κίον), imperative κίε, subjunctive κίῃς, optative κίοι and the participle κιών; a present form is found only once, the second person κίεις in Aeschylus.^[2][3][4] Epic poetry also has a form extended with -θ-, μετεκίαθον (metekī́athon) “followed, visited”.^[2][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeih₂- (“to set in motion”).^[2][1] Beekes and Frisk take ἔκιε (ékie) to be originally a thematic root aorist, later read as an imperfect, which gave rise to the occasional present forms.^[2][5][6] Outside Greek the root is found in Latin, which has the verbal adjective Latin citus (“quick”), properly “set in motion”, and the present cieō (“to set in motion”).^[2][6][1] Wiktionary rejects the traditional comparison with Sanskrit च्यवते (cyávate).^[1]

Within Greek, Chantraine and Beekes connect it with κίνυμαι (kínumai) and κινέω (kīnéō), whose long ῑ is a difficulty.^[6][2] Ancient grammarians had their own explanations: Tzetzes derived the participle from κινέω (kīnéō) by loss of the ν, or from a supposed verb meaning “to go”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Iliad, mostly in the participle κιών, meaning “going, setting off”, almost always of persons, once of ships.^[3][4][8] Chantraine notes that an aorist sense, “to set out”, is possible or necessary in all the Homeric examples.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb is epic: outside epic poetry only Aeschylus uses it, in a few passages, partly in lyrics.^[2][6][3] In Homer it often served as a metrical variant for the imperfect of εἶμι (eîmi) “to go”.^[2] Hesiod, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Bacchylides, Apollonius of Rhodes and Theocritus kept it as a word of poetry.^[4][8]

Plato's Cratylus uses it to explain the word κίνησις (kī́nēsis) “motion”.^[3] Byzantine scholars still discussed it: the 9th-century Etymologicum Parvum made it the source of κινέω (kīnéō).^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the participle κιών and the past ἔκιον for people setting out or going.^[3][9][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses the past ἔκιον in the Works and Days.^[8][10]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the only attested present form, κίεις.^[3][2][10]
• 4th century BC – Plato's Cratylus uses the verb to explain κίνησις “motion”.^[3][10]
• 12th century AD – Tzetzes, commenting on the Iliad, derives κιών from κινέω.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go, set out, of persons and gods, often with a word for the place one goes to or comes from.^[3][4]
2. Of ships: to go, to sail.^[3][4]

Related words

• κινέω (kīnéō)
• κίνυμαι (kínumai)
• εἶμι (eîmi)
• Latin cieō
• Latin citus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge