νόσος

Forms

νόσος (nósos) f (genitive νόσου); second declension^[1] Epic and Ionic νοῦσος (noûsos).^[2][3]

Etymology

There is no good etymology.^[4][5] Homer and Herodotus have νοῦσος (noûsos), but Herodotus always uses νοσέω (noséō), so his use of it is probably a Homerism.^[4][5] A pre-form *νόσϝος (*nóswos) would account for the forms,^[4][5] but Wackernagel took the Homeric form as a miswriting of a *νόσσος (*nóssos).^[4][5]

Willi derived it from Proto-Indo-European *n-h₁osu-o- (“not good”), comparing Hittite āššu- (“good”), but Beekes and Wiktionary point out that the regular outcome would be *anoswo-, and reject it.^[4][1] Babiniotis tentatively connects it with νότιος (nótios, “moist”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the first lines of the Iliad Apollo sends a plague on the army: νοῦσον ἀνὰ στρατὸν ὦρσε κακήν “he raised an evil sickness through the host”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it for the grievous diseases loosed on mankind and for distress in general.^[2][3] In tragedy it is also madness sent by the gods, the sickness of love, and disorder in the state,^[3][2] and Plato calls an unjust man a plague.^[3][2] Herodotus calls epilepsy the sacred disease, and Galen gives a definition of disease.^[2]

It survives as Modern Greek νόσος (nósos), a learned word in medieval and modern times.^[8][9] English noso-, in medical terms, comes from it.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the plague sent by Apollo.^[2][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for diseases and distress.^[2][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a sickness of the mind.^[2][3][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus calls epilepsy the sacred disease.^[2][11]
• 2nd century AD – Galen defines disease.^[2][11]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek νόσος (nósos) is a learned word.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sickness, disease, in a person or as an epidemic, and ἱερὰ νόσος “the sacred disease”, epilepsy.^[3][2]
2. Madness, frenzy, especially sent by the gods; the sickness of love.^[3][2]
3. Disorder, fault, of discord or folly.^[3]
4. Distress, suffering, pain.^[3][2]
5. A pest, a plague, of a person or thing.^[3]

Word family

• νοσέω (noséō)
• νόσημα (nósēma)
• νοσώδης (nosṓdēs)

Related words

• English noso-

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge