Etymologically
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φρήν

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pʰrɛ̌ːn/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈɸrin/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈfrin/[1]

Forms

φρήν (phrḗn) f (genitive φρενός); third declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[2] Within Greek, Chantraine and Beekes find a link with φράζω (phrázō, “to show, consider”) likely, through a zero grade with a dental enlargement.[2][3] The old explanation as “diaphragm”, from φράσσω (phrássō, “to fence in”), is attractive in meaning, but Beekes notes that it needs a nasalised root, and Chantraine regards it as long abandoned.[3][2] The n-stem is like that of other body parts, αὐχήν (aukhḗn, “neck”), ἀδήν (adḗn, “gland”) and σπλήν (splḗn, “spleen”); the zero grade is kept in the old dative plural φρασί (phrasí) and in presents such as ἀφραίνω (aphraínō, “to be senseless”).[3][4]

Fick compared Old Norse grunr (“suspicion”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰren-, but Chantraine finds the Germanic forms too isolated; another proposal is Proto-Indo-European *bʰren- (“front edge”), with Latin frōns (“forehead”).[2][1] The 11th-century scholar John Mauropous derived it from φέρω (phérō, “to carry”), and Philoxenus from προΐημι (proḯēmi, “to send forth”), because thoughts go out from it.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is mostly plural: the midriff, the region round the heart (“where the phrenes are, round the beating heart”), and the seat of feeling and thought, filled with rage or struck by grief.[4][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the φρένες are part of the body and also the heart and mind: the seat of fear, joy, courage and appetite, and of plans and knowledge; the shades of the dead lack them.[4][6] Tragedy and lyric used it for good sense and prudence, and for one's right mind, which can be lost in fear or drink.[6] Plato and Aristotle used φρένες for the diaphragm that divides the chest from the belly.[4] In the New Testament it is used only in the First Letter to the Corinthians, of careful thinking.[8]

In Modern Greek the learned plural φρένες (frénes) survives in fixed phrases such as “to be out of one's wits” with anger.[9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for the midriff and for the heart and mind.[4][7][10]
  • 6th century BC – An inscription has the old dative φρασί.[4]
  • 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for the diaphragm.[4][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato's Timaeus describes the φρένες as a partition in the trunk.[4][11]
  • New Testament – The First Letter to the Corinthians uses it of careful thinking.[8]
  • Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek φρένες (frénes) survives in fixed phrases.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The midriff, diaphragm; the chest round the heart.[4][6]
  2. The heart as the seat of emotions: courage, anger, fear, joy and grief.[4][6]
  3. The mind, as the seat of thought, knowledge and plans; the senses.[6][8]
  4. One's wits, right mind; good sense, prudence.[6]

Word family

  • ἔμφρων (émphrōn)
  • εὐφρόνη (euphrónē)
  • εὔφρων (eúphrōn)
  • μετάφρενον (metáphrenon)
  • φρενόω (phrenóō)
  • φρόνιμος (phrónimos)
  • φρενῖτις (phrenîtis)
  • φρονέω (phronéō)
  • σώφρων (sṓphrōn)
  • πρόφρων (próphrōn)
  • ἀφραίνω (aphraínō)
  • φράζω (phrázō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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
  3. ^ a b c 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 h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge