κυέω

Forms

κῠέω (kuéō) ^[1] Arcadian κύενσα (kúensa) and Coan κυεῦσα (kueûsa), present participles.^[2] Later Greek also has κύω (kúō), for which κυέω is the older and more Attic form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁-éye-ti, from *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”).^[1][3][4] The present matches Sanskrit श्वयति (śváyati, “to swell, grow strong”) exactly.^[3][5] Beside it stands the very old middle aorist κύσασθαι (kúsasthai, “to conceive”).^[5][6]

The same root gives κῦμα (kûma, “wave, swelling”), ἔγκυος (énkuos, “pregnant”) and κύριος (kúrios), and outside Greek Welsh cyw (“young animal”).^[3][5][6] Beekes rejects connections with κύαμος (kúamos) and πᾶς (pâs).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it means to carry a child in the womb, and is used of a mare pregnant with a mule.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Attic, used absolutely, it means to be pregnant, and its aorist to conceive.^[2][7] Herodotus and the orators say a woman is pregnant “by” a man with ἐκ.^[2][7] In the Symposium Plato distinguishes the aorist “to conceive” from the present “to be pregnant”, and he speaks of people pregnant in soul as well as in body.^[6][2][7] Theophrastus uses it of plants producing flowers.^[2]

The derived noun κύησις (kúēsis), first in Hippocrates, is the source of the medical Modern Greek word for pregnancy, Modern Greek κύηση (kíisi).^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for carrying a child or a mule in the womb.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the aorist for conceiving.^[2][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of men “pregnant” in soul.^[2][7][10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of plants coming into flower.^[2][10]
• Modern Greek – Its derivative Modern Greek κύηση (kíisi) is the medical word for pregnancy.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be pregnant with, carry in the womb.^[2][7]
2. (intransitive) To be pregnant; in the aorist, to conceive.^[2][7]
3. (figurative) To be pregnant in mind with thoughts.^[7][2]
4. (botany) To produce flowers.^[2]

Word family

• κύημα (kúēma)

Related words

• κῦμα (kûma)
• ἔγκυος (énkuos)
• κύριος (kúrios)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge