πόσις

πόσις¹ husband

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /pó.sis/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpo.sis/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpo.sis/^[1]

Forms

πόσῐς (pósis) m (genitive πόσῐος or πόσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The word for “husband” is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pótis, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pótis (“lord, master; husband”), an old and widespread name for the master of the house and the husband.^[1][2][3] The /t/ became /s/ before /i/.^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit पति (páti, “lord, husband”), Avestan paiti (“lord, ruler, husband”), Lithuanian pàts (“husband”), Tocharian A pats (“husband”), Tocharian B petso (“husband”) and Latin potis (“able, powerful”).^[2][3][5]

The word often stood as the second part of a compound or with a genitive, as in δεσπότης (despótēs, “master”), Sanskrit विश्पति (viśpáti, “lord of the house”) and Latin hospes (“guest, host”).^[2][5] Beekes notes that the sense “lord, husband” is usually explained from an older “self”, as in the Lithuanian word and the particle pàt (“self, even”), but that Szemerényi criticised and rejected this view.^[2] Related are πότνια (pótnia, “mistress, queen”) and perhaps the name Ποσειδῶν (Poseidôn).^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of epic poetry: from the Iliad (3.163) on it means a woman's husband.^[2][7][6]

Semantic evolution

Outside epic it is found in Alcman, in a Cyprian inscription, in Pindar and in tragedy, but it is very rare in prose.^[6][3] Sophocles sets it against ἀνήρ (anḗr) in the sense of the lawful husband as opposed to a lover (Trachiniae 550), and Euripides calls a paramour a “secret husband” (Orestes 561).^[6][3] Aristotle uses it in the Politics beside ἄλοχος (álokhos, “wife”).^[6][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a husband.^[7][6]
• 7th century BC – Alcman uses it.^[6][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it, and Aeschylus speaks of the “husband who shares the bed”.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles sets the lawful husband it denotes against a lover.^[6][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it, rarely for prose, in the Politics.^[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A husband, spouse.^[6][7][3]
2. The lawful husband, as distinct from a lover.^[6][4]
3. With κρυπτός (“secret”): a paramour.^[6][4]

πόσις² drink

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /pó.sis/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpo.sis/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpo.sis/^[1]

Forms

πόσῐς (pósis) f (genitive πόσῐος or πόσεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The word for “drink” is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pótis, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ph₃tis, from the root *peh₃- (“to drink”) of πίνω (pī́nō, “to drink”).^[1][6][3][9] Cunliffe compares the stem of ποτόν (potón, “drink”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it beside words for food: in the Iliad the formula “when they had put from them the desire for drink and food” (1.469), in the Odyssey “food and drink” (10.176).^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Alcaeus and Herodotus it is also a drinking party: Herodotus has people meeting “for drinking” (1.172), and Thucydides men “turned to drinking” (7.73).^[6][9] It is also a single draught: of blood in Aeschylus' Libation Bearers (578), of poison in Antiphon.^[6] A line of Epicharmus runs “after the feast came drinking, after drinking mockery”.^[6]

In the New Testament it always stands with βρῶσις (brôsis, “eating”): “food and drink” (Romans 14:17, Colossians 2:16), and in John 6:55 Jesus' blood is “true drink”.^[9] Medieval vernacular Greek used it, as πόση, for drinking and for a drink as opposed to food, and that form is still in use.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for drink beside food.^[6][7]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it of a drinking party.^[6][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a draught of blood.^[6][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of meeting for a drinking party.^[6][9]
• Medieval Greek – The vernacular form πόση means drinking or a drink.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of drinking.^[6][9]
2. A drink, beverage.^[6][7][9]
3. A drinking party, carousal.^[6]
4. A draught (of blood, of poison).^[6]

Word family

• κατάποσις (katáposis)
• πρόποσις (próposis)
• ἀνάποσις (anáposis)