τυφλός

Forms

τῠφλός (tuphlós) m (feminine τῠφλή, neuter τῠφλόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is one of the many adjectives in -λός (-lós) that name bodily or mental defects, such as χωλός (khōlós, “lame”) and τραυλός (traulós, “lisping”).^[2][3] It has no exact match outside Greek, but the root may be inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep, hazy, foggy”), seen in Old Irish dub (“black”) and, with the full grade, in Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍆𐍃 (daufs, “hardened”), Old Norse daufr (“deaf”) and Old High German toub (“deaf”).^[2][1][4] The first meaning seems to have been “obstructed, clogged, dark”.^[2]

Frisk and Babiniotis connect τύφομαι (túphomai, “to smoke”), with an original sense “befogged”, but Beekes notes that the short vowel of the Celtic form rules out a derivation from that verb's root.^[4][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found once in Homer, in the Iliad, meaning blind.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Pindar and the tragedians use it of the mind and the senses: in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus someone is called blind in ears, mind and eyes.^[5][6] Of things it meant dark, unseen or hidden: blind hopes, unforeseen ruin, hidden rocks.^[5][6] Of passages and openings it meant closed, without an outlet, so that Aristotle and Galen used it for the blind gut, the caecum.^[5][3] Blind Wealth, Love and Fortune became commonplaces.^[6] The New Testament uses it often of the blind in the Gospels, and figuratively of spiritual blindness.^[7]

It survives as Modern Greek τυφλός (tyflós).^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it once.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of a blind heart.^[5][9]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of a mind blind to the truth.^[5][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the caecum, a passage without an outlet.^[5][9]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it often of the blind.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as τυφλός.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Blind, unable to see; of a blind man's hand or foot, not guided by sight.^[5][6]
2. (figurative) Blind in mind, undiscerning; of hopes and opinions, misguided.^[5][6][7]
3. Of things: dark, obscure, unseen, hidden.^[5][6]
4. Of passages and openings: closed, without an outlet; the blind gut, the caecum.^[5]

Word family

• τυφλόω (tuphlóō)
• τυφλότης (tuphlótēs)
• τυφλώττω (tuphlṓttō)
• ὑπότυφλος (hupótuphlos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge