μόνος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /mó.nos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈmo.nos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈmo.nos/^[1]

Forms

μόνος (mónos) m (feminine μόνη, neuter μόνον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *mónwos.^[1][2] Ionic μοῦνος (moûnos) and Doric μῶνος (mônos) lengthened the vowel when the /w/ was lost, while the Attic form simplified the cluster without lengthening.^[3][2]

The further origin is uncertain.^[1] The ending is the same as in οἶος (oîos, “alone, only”) and ὅλος (hólos, “whole”).^[2][3] Frisk compares μανός (mānós, “thin, loose”), from *manwós, which matches Old Armenian մանր (manr, “small, thin”);^[2] Wiktionary suggests Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small”).^[1] The Πάπυρος dictionary objects that the link with μανός (mānós) is semantically difficult.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses only the Ionic form μοῦνος (moûnos), meaning alone, as in “being alone among many Cadmeans” (Iliad 4.388).^[4] Hesiod and Herodotus also use μοῦνος.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its senses are alone, without others; single-handed; alone of all, only, sole; and, with numbers, only one.^[5] Attic used μόνος, while Sophocles and Pindar still used μοῦνος in verse.^[4]

Its compounds and derivatives became widespread: μόναρχος (mónarkhos) “monarch” (Theognis, Pindar), μονάς (monás) “unity” (Plato), and μοναχός (monakhós) “single” (Aristotle), later “hermit, monk”, which Latin borrowed as monachus.^[6] Medieval and Modern Greek μόνος still means alone, only.^[7][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses μοῦνος for being alone.^[4]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses the compound μόναρχος.^[6][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses μοῦνος.^[4][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses μονάς for unity.^[6][9]
• 6th century AD – Procopius uses μοναχός for a monk.^[6][9]
• Modern Greek – μόνος means alone, only.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Alone, solitary, on one's own.^[4][5]
2. Unaided, single-handed.^[5]
3. Only, sole; alone of all.^[5][1]
4. With numbers: only one, a single.^[5]
5. Unique.^[1]

Word family

• μονάς (monás)
• μοναχός (monakhós)
• μονάζω (monázō)
• μονάξ (monáx)

Related words

• Latin monachus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge