Etymologically
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νόος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /nó.os/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈno.os/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈno.os/[1]

Forms

νόος (nóos) m (genitive νόου or νόος or νοός, variously declined); second declension, third declension[1]

Etymology

Beekes calls it without doubt an old inherited verbal noun with ⟨o⟩-grade, like λόγος (lógos), but there is no certain etymology.[2][3] An old proposal compares Proto-Germanic *snutraz (“wise, clever”), which Beekes finds possible but not compelling.[2][1] Heubeck defended a connection with νεύω (neúō, “to nod”), already proposed by Prellwitz, “to nod meaningfully”.[2][3] A connection with Proto-Indo-European *nes- (“to return home safely”) fits the form, though the meaning is difficult, and Babiniotis prefers it.[2][4] Chantraine also lists a comparison with νέω (néō, “to swim”).[3]

The Attic form νοῦς (noûs) is contracted; the New Testament and later writers have the third-declension forms νοός (noós) and νοΐ (noḯ).[5][3] Ancient writers derived the word from νέομαι (néomai, “to go”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, as the mind that perceives and thinks: in the Iliad nothing escapes the shrewd mind of Zeus.[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the word covers both thought and feeling: it is the mind that sees and knows, and also the heart that rejoices or hides anger, and a plan or purpose.[5][7] Chantraine notes that its field partly overlaps that of θυμός (thūmós).[3] In Attic, “to have mind” meant to be sensible, or to turn one's attention to something, and in Herodotus “to have in mind” meant to intend.[5]

Philosophy made it the intellect as against perception and opinion, as in Xenophanes, Parmenides and Plato, and Anaxagoras made Mind the active principle of the universe.[5][7] Aristophanes uses it for the meaning of a word, and Polybius for the tenor of a speech.[7] The New Testament has the forms νοός and νοΐ.[5][5]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it for the mind.[9] It survives as Modern Greek νους (nus), the mind; its sense “wit, spirit” is a learned loan from French esprit.[10] English took nous in philosophy in the 1670s, and as slang for common sense in 1706.[11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for the mind that perceives, and for a purpose or plan.[5][7][8]
  • 5th century BC – Anaxagoras makes Mind the principle that orders the universe.[5][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato opposes it to opinion.[5][12]
  • New Testament – The Epistle to the Romans and the First Epistle to the Corinthians have the forms νοός and νοΐ.[5]
  • 1670s – English borrows it as a philosophical term.[11]
  • Modern Greek – νους (nus) means the mind.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The mind, as the seat of perception and thought.[5][7]
  2. The mind as the seat of feeling; nature, disposition, heart.[5][7]
  3. Good sense, intelligence, understanding.[7]
  4. Purpose, plan, design; an intention.[5][7]
  5. (philosophy) Reason, intellect, and Mind as the creative principle of the universe.[5][7]
  6. The sense or meaning of a word or ritual; the tenor of a speech.[7]

Word family

  • διάνοια (diánoia)
  • ἔννοια (énnoia)
  • νοέω (noéō)
  • νουθετέω (nouthetéō)
  • νοόω (noóō)
  • English nous

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e 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
  4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge