νεῦρον

Forms

νεῦρον (neûron) n (genitive νεύρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *snḗh₁wr̥ (“band, sinew”),^[1] an r-stem extended with a thematic vowel, like Latin nervus (“sinew”), which matches it except in gender.^[2] The r-stem itself survives in Avestan snāuuarə (“sinew”), Tocharian B ṣñaura (“sinews”) and Old Armenian նեարդ (neard, “sinew, fibre”), and an n-stem beside it in Sanskrit स्नावन् (snā́van, “tendon”).^[2][1] It is also cognate with English sinew.^[1] Frisk and Babiniotis derive the stem from the verb for twisting threads seen in νέω (néō, “to spin”).^[2][3] νευρά (neurā́, “bowstring”) is related to it as φυλή (phulḗ) is to φῦλον (phûlon).^[2]

Ancient writers derived it from νεύω (neúō, “to nod, incline”) (Palladius, 6th century AD) or from νέομαι (néomai, “to go”) (Orion, 5th century AD).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is used in the plural of the ox-sinew bowstring, of the binding that fastens an arrowhead to its shaft, and once of the tendons of the foot cut by a spear.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses ox sinew as thread for sewing hides, Xenophon has it for the cord of a sling, and Lucian for the string of a lyre.^[6] In the Hippocratic writings and in Plato it is the tendon of the body, which Plato describes as made of bones and sinews, and Plato also uses it for the fibres of plants.^[6][8]

In the plural it came to mean strength or vital force: Aristophanes calls the lyric odes the sinews of tragedy, and Aeschines speaks of the sinews of public affairs being cut.^[6][8] Appian has the phrase “money is the sinews of war”.^[6] In comedy and in Callimachus it is a colloquial word for the penis.^[6][8]

The sense “nerve”, an organ of sensation, is first found in Erasistratus, as quoted by Galen, and Galen and Rufus distinguish nerves of sensation and of movement.^[6] The Septuagint uses it for the sinew of the thigh in Genesis.^[9]

Modern Greek νεύρο (névro) means “nerve” in the Hellenistic sense; its popular sense “tendon” continues the ancient plural, and the plural “nerves”, of a person's temper, is a semantic loan from French.^[10] English neuron (1891, through German) and the prefix neuro- come from it.^[11][1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a bowstring of ox sinew and for the tendons of the foot.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses ox sinew as thread for stitching hides.^[6][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes calls the lyric odes the sinews of tragedy.^[6][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato describes the body as made of bones and sinews.^[6][8][12]
• 4th century BC – Aeschines speaks of the sinews of public affairs being cut.^[6][12]
• 2nd century AD – Galen distinguishes nerves of sensation and of movement.^[6][12]
• 2nd century AD – Appian calls money the sinews of war.^[6][12]
• 1891 – English neuron is formed from it, through German.^[11]
• Modern Greek – νεύρο (névro) means “nerve”, and in popular speech “tendon”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sinew, tendon.^[6][8]
2. A cord made of sinew: a bowstring, the binding of an arrowhead, the cord of a sling, thread for sewing; the string of a lyre.^[6][8][5]
3. (figurative, chiefly plural) Sinews, strength, vital force (of a state, the soul, a tragedy).^[6][8]
4. In the plural, the fibres of plants.^[6][8]
5. (medicine) A nerve, as an organ of sensation and movement.^[6]
6. (Hippocratic) With ἔναιμον, a vein.^[6]
7. (colloquial) The penis.^[6][8]

Word family

• νευρόσπαστος (neuróspastos)
• νευρώδης (neurṓdēs)
• νεύρινος (neúrinos)
• νευρίον (neuríon)
• νευρόω (neuróō)
• ἀπονεύρωσις (aponeúrōsis)
• νευροειδής (neuroeidḗs)

Related words

• νευρά (neurā́)
• νέω (néō)
• Latin nervus
• English sinew
• English neuron

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
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 p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge