Etymologically
Log in

νεύω

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 21:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /něu̯.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈne.βo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈne.vo/[1]

Forms

νεύω (neúō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *new- (“to nod”).[1][2][3] Frisk took the kept diphthong of νεύω and νευστάζω (neustázō) as a sign of an older *neus-e/o-, comparing γεύομαι (geúomai) and εὕω (heúō);[3] Beekes prefers a root without s, because the clear cognates Latin abnuō (“to refuse”) and adnuō (“to nod assent”) go back to *-neue/o-.[3] Babiniotis gives *neu(s)-.[4] νεῦμα (neûma) agrees with nūmen, but both may have been formed separately.[3]

Wiktionary also compares nūtō (“to nod”) and Sanskrit नवते (návate);[1] García Ramón, cited by Beekes, leaves the Sanskrit verb out as evidence.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a quick bending of the head: warriors in close order nod so that their helmets touch, crests nod on helmets (Iliad 3.337, 13.133), and one man nods to another as a sign (9.223).[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer and the Homeric Hymns a god or a person in authority nods to grant a request, and in Pindar and Sophocles the verb means to nod assent or to promise.[7][6] Hesiod uses it of ears of corn bending to the ground.[6] It was also used of places sloping or facing in a direction, and of things tending towards a point (Thucydides, Plato).[6] Figuratively it meant to decline, as fortune declines in a fragment of Euripides, and in Neoplatonic philosophy to sink lower in the scale of being (Plotinus).[6]

In the New Testament it means to nod to someone as a signal to do something (John 13:24, Acts 24:10).[8] Modern Greek νεύω (névo) is a learned word taken from the ancient verb.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of nodding heads and helmet crests, and of a nod as a sign.[5][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of ears of corn bending down.[6][10]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of nodding assent.[6][10]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of sloping towards something.[6][10]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of fortune declining.[6][10]
  • New Testament – It means to nod as a signal.[8]
  • Modern Greek – νεύω is a learned word.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To nod or beckon as a signal, with the head or the hand; to signal someone to do something.[7][6][8]
  2. To nod assent; to grant, promise.[7][6]
  3. To bend forward, nod, of warriors, helmet crests or ears of corn.[5][6][7]
  4. To incline, slope in a direction; to tend towards something.[6]
  5. (figurative) To decline, fall away; in Neoplatonism, to sink in the scale of being.[6]

Word family

  • ἀνανεύω (ananeúō)
  • ἐκνεύω (ekneúō)
  • ἐπινεύω (epineúō)
  • κατανεύω (kataneúō)
  • νεῦμα (neûma)
  • νευστικός (neustikós)
  • συννεύω (sunneúō)
  • νεῦσις (neûsis)
  • νευστάζω (neustázō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge