νοῦς

Forms

νοῦς (noûs) m (genitive νοῦ, dative νῷ); contracted second declension^[1][2] Uncontracted νόος (nóos) in Homer and Ionic, where Homer has the contracted form once and Herodotus never.^[2][3] Aeolic genitive νῶ (nô) (Alcaeus) and accusative νῶν (nôn) (Sappho).^[2][3] In the New Testament and later writers also third-declension forms: genitive νοός (noós), dative νοΐ (noḯ).^[2][4][5]

Etymology

It is the Attic contracted form of νόος (nóos).^[2][3] Beekes and Frisk regard it as an old inherited action noun with the vowel ⟨ο⟩, like λόγος (lógos), but it has no certain etymology.^[3][6][4]

A comparison with Proto-Germanic *snutraz (“wise, clever”) is possible but not compelling, in Beekes's view.^[3][7] Heubeck defended a link with νεύω (neúō, “to nod”), which Frisk thought no better.^[3][6] A link with νέομαι (néomai, “to return home”) fits the form but not, according to Beekes, the meaning.^[3] Ruijgh connected the Mycenaean personal names Mycenaean Greek no-e-u and Mycenaean Greek wi-pi-no-o with that root, with a sense moving from “saving” to “watching”, an idea Chantraine calls ingenious but uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer νόος (nóos) is the mind as it perceives and thinks: nothing escapes “the shrewd mind of Zeus”.^[2][4] Its field overlaps with that of θυμός (thūmós), since one can rejoice “in one's noos”, and it can also be a plan that leads to action.^[4][1]

Semantic evolution

From Homer on the word covered the mind, a person's disposition, good sense, intentions and plans.^[1][2] Phrases such as sun nōi “sensibly” were common in Herodotus and Plato, and Heraclitus punned on xun nōi “with sense” and xunōi “common”.^[2] Aristophanes and Herodotus also use it of the meaning or point of a word or act.^[1][4]

Philosophers made it a principle of the universe: for Anaxagoras it was the intelligence that orders the world, and Plato and Aristotle used it for reason as a creative power.^[4][1][7] Later philosophers used it in the plural, rare in early texts.^[2] In the New Testament it occurs mainly in Paul's letters, for the mind as opposed to the flesh, understanding and a way of thinking.^[5]

Modern Greek νους (nous) continues the ancient word; one sense of it follows French esprit.^[8] English borrowed nous in philosophy in the 1670s, and in 1706 it appears as college slang for common sense.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses νόος (nóos) for the mind of gods and men; the Odyssey has the contracted form once.^[2][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus plays on its likeness to the word for “common”.^[2]
• 5th century BC – Anaxagoras makes it the intelligence that orders the universe.^[4][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the point of a ritual or gift.^[1]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for reason as a creative principle.^[1][4]
• 1st century AD – Paul's letters use it for the mind and understanding, with new third-declension forms.^[5][2]
• 1670s – English borrows nous as a philosophical term.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mind, as the seat of thought and perception.^[1][2]
2. Disposition, temper, feelings.^[1]
3. Good sense, intelligence, understanding.^[1][2]
4. A state of mind: thoughts, intentions, wishes.^[1]
5. A purpose, plan or design.^[1][7]
6. (philosophy) Mind or reason as a creative principle of the universe.^[1][4]
7. The sense or meaning of a word, a ritual or a speech.^[1][7]
8. (New Testament) The mind as opposed to the flesh; a way of thinking.^[5]

Word family

• νοέω (noéō)
• νόημα (nóēma)
• νοερός (noerós)
• διάνοια (diánoia)
• ἔννοια (énnoia)
• νουθετέω (nouthetéō)
• νουνεχής (nounekhḗs)
• εὔνοος (eúnoos)

Related words

• English nous

Usage notes

Tragedy uses the contracted form except in two lines.^[2] νοῦν ἔχειν “to have sense” gave the compound νουνεχής (nounekhḗs) “prudent”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com