πηός

Forms

πηός (pēós) m (genitive πηοῦ); second declension^[1] Doric and Aeolic πᾱός (pāós), also in Nicander.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is unknown: it is an old kinship term with no certain connection.^[4][3] Since Froehde it has usually been set up as Proto-Hellenic *pāso- and connected with Latin pār (“equal, matching”) or with parricīda (“parricide”).^[4][3] Beekes and Frisk find this unconvincing: the Greek form does not match the Latin one, and the Latin words are disputed both in form and in meaning.^[4][3] It is unrelated to πηΐσκος (pēḯskos, “son, offspring”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Iliad (3.163), meaning a kinsman by marriage, an in-law.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Homer it names relatives by marriage; the Odyssey and Hesiod also use it of relatives in general.^[5][6][2] It stayed a poetic word, used by Callimachus and Theocritus, and a papyrus from Egypt has it for a kinsman.^[6][2]

From the same stem come the abstract noun πηοσύνη (pēosúnē, “kinship by marriage”), the verb παόομαι (paóomai, “to become related by marriage”) in Alcaeus, the patronymic Πολυπαΐδης (Polupaḯdēs) in Theognis, and the Laconian gloss παῶται (paôtai, “kinsmen, household”).^[3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a kinsman by marriage.^[5][2]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days uses it of relatives.^[2][6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses the related verb παόομαι (paóomai).^[3]
• 6th century BC – Theognis has the patronymic Πολυπαΐδης (Polupaḯdēs), built on the same stem.^[3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus and Theocritus use it for a kinsman.^[2][6]
• 12th century AD – Eustathius derives it, wrongly, from πέπαμαι (pépamai).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kinsman by marriage, an in-law.^[2][6]
2. A kinsman, relative in general.^[6][2]

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 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press