οὐρέω

Forms

οὐρέω (ouréō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *eworhéyō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wors-éye-ti (“to make it rain”), an iterative formation from *h₁wers- (“to rain”).^[1][2][3] LIV reconstructs the root as *h₂u̯ers- (“to rain”).^[4] The root's primary present is Sanskrit वर्षति (várṣati, “it rains”).^[2][5] The verb would have been a euphemism replacing ὀμείχω (omeíkhō), the old word for urinating.^[2][5][3] The /rs/ lost its /s/ with lengthening of the vowel before it, giving ⟨ου⟩.^[2] It is distantly related to ἕρση (hérsē, “dew”) and perhaps οὐρανός (ouranós).^[2][5]

Latin ūrīna (“urine”), which goes back to a different root, is not connected, but the Greek verb may have influenced its history.^[2][5] οὖρον (oûron, “urine”) is a back-formation from the verb.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesiod uses it in the Works and Days, in rules forbidding a man to urinate standing facing the sun or into rivers and springs.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept its single meaning, to pass water.^[7][6] Herodotus and Aristophanes use it, and the Hippocratic writers use it with an object, passing blood or other matter with the water, and in the passive of what is excreted or of a food that is diuretic.^[6][5] It formed a family of medical words: οὐρήθρα (ourḗthra, “urethra”), οὐρητήρ (ourētḗr) (the urethra, later the ureter), δυσουρία (dusouría) and στραγγουρία (strangouría).^[5][3]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the verb,^[9] and Modern Greek ουρώ (ouró) is a learned form beside the popular κατουρώ (katouró).^[10][5]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days has it.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it; the Hippocratic writers use it of passing blood.^[6][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Xenophon use it.^[7][8]
• 2nd century AD – Aretaeus uses the active for a diuretic effect.^[6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses ουρώ (ouró) for urinating and passing blood.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned ουρώ (ouró) means to urinate.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To urinate, make water.^[6][7]
2. (with accusative) To pass something with the urine, such as blood.^[6]
3. (medicine, passive) Of urine, to be passed; of food or wine, to be diuretic.^[6]
4. (medicine, active) To act as a diuretic.^[6]

Word family

• οὖρον (oûron)
• οὐρήθρα (ourḗthrā)
• οὐρητήρ (ourētḗr)

Related words

• ὀμείχω (omeíkhō)
• ἕρση (hérsē)
• δυσουρία (dusouría)
• στραγγουρία (strangouría)

Usage notes

A separate, rare verb οὐρέω “to watch”, from οὖρος (oûros, “watcher”), is known only from a scholion on Apollonius of Rhodes and the Etymologicum Magnum.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b 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