νέφος

Forms

νέφος (néphos) n (genitive νέφεος or νέφους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *népʰos,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *nébʰos (“cloud”), a neuter /s/-stem of the root *nebʰ-.^[1][2][3] Cognate with Sanskrit नभस् (nábhas, “cloud, mist, sky”), Hittite nepiš (“sky”) and Proto-Slavic *nebo (“heaven, sky”).^[2][1] The Greek νεφέλη (nephélē), with an /l/-suffix, matches Latin nebula (“mist, cloud”).^[2][1] Beekes considers ὄμβρος (ómbros, “rain”) unrelated, though Babiniotis thinks it may belong here.^[2][4] LIV takes impersonal verbs such as συννεφέω (sunnephéō) “it is cloudy” to be old.^[2]

Ancient writers explained it in other ways: Chrysippus derived it from a negation and φάος (pháos, “light”), since a cloud lacks light, and Philoxenus from νείφω (neíphō, “to snow”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a cloud or mass of clouds, and also, figuratively, the dark cloud of death.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Homer already uses it for a dense crowd, a cloud of warriors or of birds, and for the storm-cloud of war.^[7] Poets use it for clouds of death, forgetfulness, blindness and grief,^[6][7] and Euripides speaks of a cloud of lament and of a cloud upon the brow.^[6][7] Prose has it of real clouds, as when Plato names cloud and mist together, and Demosthenes of a danger that passed like a cloud.^[6]

Medieval Greek kept it.^[8] In Modern Greek νέφος (néfos) is a learned word for a cloud, also for the cloud of pollution over a city,^[9] and Triantafyllidis takes this sense as a semantic loan from English cloud, and Babiniotis from English smog.^[9][4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for clouds, for the cloud of death and for crowds of warriors.^[6][7][10]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for the darkness of blindness, and Euripides for a cloud of lament.^[6][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato names cloud and mist together.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes compares a danger that passed to a cloud.^[6][11]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word, also for a cloud of pollution.^[9][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cloud, a mass of clouds.^[6][7]
2. A cloud or mist giving cover or concealment.^[7]
3. (figurative) A dark cloud of death, forgetfulness, blindness or grief.^[6][7]
4. (figurative) The storm-cloud of war.^[7]
5. A great number, a cloud, flock or swarm of men, birds or animals.^[7]

Word family

• συννεφής (sunnephḗs)

Related words

• νεφέλη (nephélē)
• Latin nebula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge