Etymologically
Log in

μυέω

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 30 October 2026 at 00:36. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /my.é.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /myˈe.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /myˈe.o/[1]

Forms

μῠέω (muéō) [1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek μύω (múō, “to close, be shut”), said of the eyes and lips, with the suffix -έω (-éō).[1][2] Beekes and Chantraine take this present and the passive μυέομαι (muéomai) as newer forms built from non-present stems such as μυηθῆναι (muēthênai) and μεμύημαι (memúēmai).[2][3] The meaning probably developed from “to have one's eyes closed”, as in μύστης (mústēs), the initiate who has not yet seen, opposed to the ἐπόπτης (epóptēs) who has reached the highest grade.[2][4] From μύστης (mústēs) come μυστικός (mustikós) and μυστήριον (mustḗrion).[2][4]

The origin of μύω itself is uncertain: Frisk and Chantraine trace it to the imitative syllable μῦ (mû), made with closed lips, while Oettinger compared Hittite munnae- (“to hide”).[4][3][2] The Mycenaean participle Mycenaean Greek mu-jo-me-no is interpreted as “initiated”, from a verb with the same meaning.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Heraclitus, of people being initiated into the mysteries.[6][7] Herodotus says that any Greek who wishes may be initiated at Eleusis.[8][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb was the technical term of the mystery cults: active “to initiate”, more often passive “to be initiated”, as in Aristophanes' chorus of initiates in the Frogs.[8][7] Plato uses it of being initiated into the vision of the divine and, figuratively, into philosophy.[7] Its action noun μύησις (múēsis), “initiation”, appears in Hellenistic Greek.[2]

Later it came to mean simply “to teach, instruct”; the New Testament uses the passive of having learnt to be full and to be hungry, and an early Christian text uses it of baptism.[8][9] Modern Greek μυώ (mió) is a learned revival: to initiate into a religion, a secret society or a field of knowledge.[10][5]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus uses the passive of initiation into the mysteries.[6][11]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of initiation at Eleusis.[8][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Andocides use the perfect participle for the initiates.[8][7]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it figuratively of philosophy.[7]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of learning a lesson.[9][8]
  • Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek μυώ (mió) means to initiate.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To initiate someone into the mysteries; in the passive, to be initiated.[8][7]
  2. (figurative) To initiate into a vision of the divine or into philosophy.[7]
  3. To teach or instruct.[8][9]

Word family

  • μύστης (mústēs)
  • μυστήριον (mustḗrion)
  • μύστις (mústis)
  • μύησις (múēsis)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 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. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c 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
  10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge