υἱός

Forms

υἱός (huiós) m (genitive υἱέος or υἱοῦ); second declension^[1] Mycenaean Greek i-jo, probably also i-ju, dative i-je-we and i-we.^[2] Early Attic and other early inscriptions inflect it as a u-stem, nominative υἱύς (huiús) (also ὑύς, ὕς), genitive υἱέος; the o-stem forms appear in Attic inscriptions only after 350 BC.^[3] Homer also has the forms υἱέος, υἷος, υἷα and the plural υἷες.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is a second-declension remodelling of the older υἱύς (huiús), which is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hūyús,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *suH-iu- (“son”).^[2] Beekes suggests that the o-stem arose by dissimilation; the u-stem keeps both the full grade of its suffix (genitive υἱέος (huiéos)) and the zero grade (epic υἷος (huîos)).^[2]

The same preform gave Tocharian B soy and Tocharian A se “son”,^[2] and Wiktionary also compares Old Armenian ուստր (ustr).^[1] Most other languages have the suffix Proto-Indo-European *suH-nu- instead, as in Lithuanian sūnùs, Old High German sunu and Avestan hunu (“offspring”).^[2] Both are probably derived from *suH- (“to bring forth”), so that the word first meant “produce of the body”.^[2] Beekes notes that “son”, unlike the words for father, mother, daughter and brother, lacks the suffix *-ter-, and suggests that it replaced an older word for “son”.^[2]

Ancient writers derived it from ὕω (húō, “to rain”) (Plutarch) or from φύω (phúō, “to beget”) (the Homeric Epimerismi).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is already on the Mycenaean tablets as Mycenaean Greek i-jo.^[2] In Homer it means a son; in the plural with the name of a people it stands for the people itself, so that “the sons of the Achaeans” are simply the Achaeans.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In some dialects, including the Ionic prose of Herodotus, παῖς (paîs) takes its place, and it is rare in tragedy.^[3] Menander uses it figuratively, “son of pain”.^[5]

The Septuagint has many Hebrew-style periphrases with it: “a son of a hundred years” is a man a hundred years old, and “sons of injustice” are unjust men; the New Testament has “a son of peace” in the same way.^[3] In the New Testament it also means a descendant of a famous ancestor, a disciple or follower, and the young of an animal, and it is used of Jesus as “the Son of Man”.^[5][7] The Hellenistic compound υἱοθεσία (huiothesía, “adoption”) grew out of the phrase “to make someone one's son”.^[2]

Modern Greek keeps υιός (yiós) as a learned word (in company names, “and Sons”) and in theology for the Son, the second person of the Trinity; the everyday word is γιος (gios).^[8][1]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets have Mycenaean Greek i-jo.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a son, and “sons of the Achaeans” for the Achaeans.^[3][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus' Ionic prose mostly uses παῖς (paîs) instead.^[3]
• 4th century BC – Attic inscriptions use the o-stem forms only after 350 BC.^[3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander speaks of a “son of pain”.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of followers and descendants, and of Jesus as the Son of Man.^[5][7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek υιός (yiós) is learned; the everyday word is γιος (gios).^[8][1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A son, by birth or by adoption.^[3][5]
2. (in the plural, with a people's name) The members of a people: “sons of the Achaeans”, the Achaeans.^[3][5]
3. (New Testament) A child; a male child.^[3]
4. (New Testament) The young of an animal.^[5]
5. A descendant of a well-known ancestor.^[5]
6. (New Testament) A disciple or follower; in the plural, the members of a group.^[5]
7. (Septuagint, New Testament) One marked by or belonging to something, in Hebrew-style periphrases: “a son of peace”, “a son of a hundred years”.^[3][5]
8. (New Testament) Of Jesus: the Son of Man.^[5][7]

Word family

• υἱωνός (huiōnós)
• υἱοθεσία (huiothesía)
• υἱόω (huióō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
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