μισογύνης

Forms

μῑσογῠ́νης (mīsogúnēs) m (genitive μῑσογῠ́νου); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μισέω (mīséō, “to hate”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman”).^[2][3][4] Its opposite is φιλογύνης (philogúnēs, “fond of women”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the title of a comedy by Menander, The Woman-Hater, mentioned by Strabo.^[5][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The Peripatetic Hieronymus, quoted by Athenaeus, called Euripides a woman-hater, and Plutarch records it as a title of Heracles in Phocis.^[5][3][2] Hesychius explains a by-form μισογύναιος (mīsogúnaios) by it.^[7] The abstract noun μισογυνία (mīsoguníā), “hatred of women”, appears in Antipater the Stoic.^[5]

Modern Greek μισογύνης (misogýnis) is a learned borrowing from the Hellenistic word,^[6] also influenced by French misogyne (1559) and English misogynist (1620).^[8] The English word misogynist is from the Greek word, and misogyny from Modern Latin misogynia, from Greek μισογυνία.^[9]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander writes a comedy called The Woman-Hater.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo mentions Menander's play.^[5][10][11]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch records it as a title of Heracles in Phocis.^[5][2]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Athenaeus quotes Hieronymus calling Euripides a woman-hater.^[5][2]
• 1610s – English forms misogynist from the Greek word.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman-hater.^[5][2][12]
2. A title of Heracles in Phocis.^[5][3]

Word family

• μισογυνία (mīsoguníā)

Related words

• φιλογύνης (philogúnēs)
• English misogynist
• English misogyny

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d e Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
8. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
12. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press