κοίρανος

Forms

κοίρᾰνος (koíranos) m (genitive κοιρᾰ́νου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from a word for “army, host of warriors”, from Proto-Indo-European *kóryos,^[2][1][3] found in Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌹𐍃 (harjis, “army”), Lithuanian kãrias (“army”) and Middle Irish cuire (“troop, company”).^[2][3] Its closest match is Old Norse Herjann, a name of Odin, with the same suffix, a match which, Chantraine notes, does not allow the formation to be traced back to Indo-European.^[2][3][1] The suffix is the one of Latin dominus beside domus and of Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (þiudans, “king”) beside 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda, “people”), and whether it is old is debated.^[2][3] The base still appears in Greek proper names such as Κοιρόμαχος (Koirómakhos).^[2]

Among the readings proposed for the Mycenaean title ko-re-te, one connects it with κοίρανος.^[4] Ancient grammarians derived the word from καιρός (kairós, “right moment”), as a leader “for the occasion”, or from κόρος (kóros, “youth”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is a leader or commander of troops: a famous line says that the rule of many is not good, and there should be one κοίρανος.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the word is mainly military, the leaders of the Danaans; in the Odyssey the beggar Irus is mockingly called the “lord of strangers and beggars”.^[6][8] In Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, lyric and tragedy it became a poetic word for a lord or ruler, of a god, of Hades as lord of the dead, or of a city or land, and Plutarch uses it as a title of Alexander.^[8][7] Beekes notes that in Greek this old inherited word gave way to ἄναξ (ánax) and βασιλεύς (basileús), words he takes from the substrate.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of commanders in war; the Odyssey mockingly of the beggar Irus.^[6][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod calls Zeus the lord of the immortals.^[8][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of a lord or master.^[7][9]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it in tragedy of rulers.^[7][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it as a title of Alexander the Great.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leader, commander in war.^[7][8]
2. A lord, ruler or master, of gods, of a city or a land.^[7][8]

Word family

• κοιρανέω (koiranéō)

Usage notes

The grammarian Ptolemy distinguished κοίρανος from βασιλεύς (basileús) and τύραννος (túrannos): the κοίρανος, he says, commands for a particular occasion, like a general, and soon gives up his power.^[5]

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. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge