νόννος

Forms

νόννος (nónnos) m (genitive νόννου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin nonnus (“father; monk”), a nursery word that was also a term of respect.^[2][3][4] Babiniotis notes that some think the Latin word itself is of Greek origin.^[4] Wiktionary instead treats νόννος as an onomatopoeic word, comparing Sanskrit नना (nanā́, “mother”) and Russian няня (njánja, “nurse”).^[1] Beekes and Frisk count Latin nonnus among such reduplicated nursery words, with Greek νέννος (nénnos, “maternal uncle”).^[5][6] Πάπυρος takes νόννος as a variant of the same word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inscription from Dura-Europos uses it for “father”, in a phrase about brothers with the same father.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Pollux has it as a variant reading for νέννος (nénnos) in the sense “maternal grandfather”, and Πάπυρος gives “grandfather”.^[5][9][7] In the Middle Ages it was a title given to monks, “elder”.^[7][2]

Modern Greek νονός (nonós), already medieval, means “godfather”, the spiritual father of a child at baptism, and Triantafyllidis suggests the accent moved to keep it apart from the older word.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Father.^[8][1]
2. Grandfather, especially the mother's father.^[7][5]
3. (Byzantine) A title of monks, “elder”.^[7][2]

Related words

• νέννος (nénnos)
• Latin nonnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
3. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c d e Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
8. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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