πόνος

Forms

πόνος (pónos) m (genitive πόνου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the o-grade noun from Ancient Greek πένομαι (pénomai, “to toil, exert oneself”), beside which stand the iterative πονέω (ponéō) and the adjective πονηρός (ponērós).^[2][3][4] Beekes and Frisk regard the noun and the iterative verb as productive derivatives of the primary present.^[2][5]

The further origin is uncertain.^[6][5] Beekes finds the only viable cognates in words for “stretch, twist, weave” going back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-, such as Lithuanian pìnti (“to twist, plait”) and Proto-Germanic *spinnaną (“to spin”), with a shift in Greek from “stretch” to “strain” and so to “exert oneself”.^[2][1][7] Chantraine notes that the Homeric uses of the verb, mostly of household work, recall none of these crafts, and calls the etymology doubtful.^[6] Frisk also thinks the link possible but unproven.^[5] The e-grade words of the family came to mean poverty (πενία (penía), πένης (pénēs)), while the o-grade words kept the sense of toil and suffering.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is hard work, and above all the toil of battle: the Iliad uses it of the fighting itself, as when warriors have “toil” with the enemy.^[3][8][4] Homer also uses it of hardship and distress in general.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both effort and what effort costs: work and labour on one side, trouble, distress and pain on the other.^[4][3][9] Hesiod makes Πόνος a person, a son of Eris (Strife).^[3] Pindar and the tragedians use it of the exertions of athletes and of the product of work, so that honey is the “labour” of bees.^[3][4] In the Hippocratic writings it is bodily pain.^[3]

In the Septuagint it often means the fruit of one's labour, and in the New Testament both hard toil and pain.^[10][11][12] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word.^[13] In Modern Greek πόνος (pónos) is first of all physical pain, then grief, while the original sense of hard work survives in its family.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of toil, especially the toil of battle, and of distress.^[3][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony makes Πόνος a son of Eris.^[3][16]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of the exertions of the games and of honey as the work of bees.^[3][4][16]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles plays on the word in the line “toil upon toil brings toil”.^[15][16]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writings use it of bodily pain.^[3][16]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of toil and of pain.^[11][12]
• Modern Greek – πόνος (pónos) means above all physical pain.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. Hard work, toil, labour.^[3][4]
2. The toil of war, the struggle of battle, and (Homer) battle itself.^[3][4][8]
3. Bodily exertion, exercise; the efforts of athletes in the games.^[3]
4. A task or piece of business; an undertaking.^[3]
5. Hardship, trouble, distress, suffering.^[3][4]
6. (medicine) Pain, especially physical pain.^[3]
7. The product of work, a work: honey as the work of bees, a building as the work of builders.^[3][4]
8. (personified) Πόνος, Toil, a son of Eris.^[3]

Word family

• ἐπίπονος (epíponos)
• πονέω (ponéō)

Related words

• πένομαι (pénomai)
• πενία (penía)
• πένης (pénēs)
• πονηρός (ponērós)

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses it as pain, the working of suffering.^[17]

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 f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
8. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Βασικό Λεξικό της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής, Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
12. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
16. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
17. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)