σός

Forms

σός (sós) m (feminine σή, neuter σόν); first/second declension^[1] Epic, Doric and Aeolic τεός (teós), Boeotian τιός (tiós); epic genitive σοῖο.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *twós (“your”), the possessive formed from the stem of the pronoun of the second person, σύ (sú).^[1][3] Beekes derives it from *τϝός (*twós), and the Doric, Aeolic and Homeric τεός (teós) from *τεϝός (*tewós), both continuing Indo-European *t(e)wo-, and Boeotian has τιός (tiós).^[3] The initial /s/ comes from the sequence /tw/, as in the accusative σέ (sé) from *twe.^[3]

Cognate with Sanskrit त्व (tvá), Old Armenian քո (kʻo), Latin tuus and Lithuanian tãvas.^[1][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, meaning “your” of one person, with or without the article, beside the epic τεός (teós); the Odyssey has the epic genitive σοῖο.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Attic it is used freely with the article, as in τὸ σὸν κάρα “your head” in Aeschylus, but never when it is the predicate, as in Sophocles' πάτερ, σός εἰμι, “father, I am yours”.^[2] It can also look towards the person addressed, the sense of an objective genitive: Homer's σὸς πόθος is the longing for you.^[4]

Used as a noun, the masculine refers to a person's husband (in Euripides), the plural οἱ σοί to one's family, friends or followers (Herodotus, Sophocles, Euripides), and the neuter to one's part, interest or affairs.^[4][2] In the New Testament it marks emphasis or contrast, as in the question about the beam “in your own eye”.^[8]

The vernacular Greek of 1100–1669 still used it, and it survives in modern dialects.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “your”, beside τεός (teós).^[6][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it with the article, as in “your head”.^[2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus, Sophocles and Euripides use the plural οἱ σοί of a person's kin and followers.^[4][2]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew uses it for contrast, of the beam in “your own eye”.^[8]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts still use it; it survives in modern dialects.^[9]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. Your, yours (of one person), with or without the article.^[2][4][6]
2. As a predicate, yours: Sophocles' πάτερ, σός εἰμι, “father, I am yours”.^[2]
3. Directed towards you, with the force of an objective genitive: Homer's σὸς πόθος, “longing for you”.^[4]
4. (as a noun) ὁ σός, your husband, οἱ σοί, your people, kin or followers, τὸ σόν, your part or interest, and τὰ σά, your affairs or property.^[4][2][8]
5. σὸν ἔργον with an infinitive: it is your business to do something.^[2]

Related words

• σύ (sú)
• Latin tuus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr