μηνύω

Forms

μηνῡ́ω (mēnū́ō) ^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] Beekes and Frisk see in it either a thematic present in ⟨-νυ-⟩, whose suffix spread from the present to the aorist, or a denominative verb from an unattested noun *μῆνυς (*mênus) (or a variant with a long final ⟨ῡ⟩), while Chantraine finds the denominative less likely and calls the word without etymology.^[2][4][3] Wiktionary, following LIV, takes it as inherited from Proto-Hellenic *mānúō, a nasal-infix present to Proto-Indo-European *meh₂- (“to give signs, beckon”), the root that LIV also finds in Lithuanian móti (“to beckon with the hand”).^[1][5][2] Frisk had rejected that comparison as unconvincing, and Pokorny and Babiniotis connect the verb instead with μαίομαι (maíomai, “to seek”).^[4][3][6]

The Doric form is μανύω (manúō), with ᾱ.^[7][8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, where it means to disclose something to someone; the same hymn has μήνυτρον (mḗnutron), the reward for information.^[7][3][9]

Semantic evolution

In Pindar, Bacchylides, Herodotus and tragedy it is to make known or reveal what is hidden, and Bacchylides says that the Lydian touchstone “discloses” gold.^[7][8] At Athens it became a legal term: to lay information, often as an informer against others, and in the passive to be denounced, and Thucydides, Andocides and Lysias use it so, and the μηνυτής (mēnutḗs) was the informer.^[7][8][3] Plato uses it more abstractly, of an argument or a science that points to something.^[7][8]

In the New Testament it means to report or make known, also to the authorities, as when the chief priests order that anyone who knows where Jesus is should report it in the Gospel of John.^[10] Medieval Greek kept the verb, and Modern Greek uses μηνύω (minýo) as a learned word for to bring a charge, to denounce, while Modern Greek μήνυμα (mínyma) has become “message”.^[11][12][3]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Hermes uses it of disclosing something.^[7][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the Doric μανύω, to reveal.^[9][8][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with a participle, to show that someone has something.^[7][13]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides and the Attic orators use it of informers laying information.^[8][7][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of an argument that indicates something.^[7][13]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned verb meaning to bring a complaint or denounce.^[12][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To disclose or reveal something secret; to make known, declare.^[7][8]
2. To show that something is the case (with a participle or infinitive); to indicate.^[7][8]
3. Of a touchstone, to show up gold.^[7][8]
4. (intransitive) To give information or an indication.^[8]
5. (Attic law) To lay information, act as an informer.^[7][8]
6. To inform against, denounce someone; in the passive, to be denounced or exposed.^[8][7]
7. (New Testament) To report, make known, also to the authorities.^[10]

Word family

• ἀντιμηνύω (antimēnúō)
• διαμηνύω (diamēnúō)
• ἐκμηνύω (ekmēnúō)
• προμηνύω (promēnúō)
• προσμηνύω (prosmēnúō)
• καταμηνύω (katamēnúō)
• μήνυσις (mḗnusis)
• μήνυμα (mḗnuma)
• μηνυτής (mēnutḗs)
• μήνυτρον (mḗnutron)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge