φᾶρος

Forms

φᾶρος (phâros) n (genitive φᾱ́ρεος or φᾱ́ρους); third declension^[1] Mycenaean Greek pa-we-a (plural), that is *φάρϝεα.^[2][3][4] Later also φάρος, with a short vowel.^[5][2] Homer has ᾱ, Sophocles ᾰ, Euripides both.^[5][2]

Etymology

Beekes calls it an isolated word that could well be Pre-Greek.^[2] Its Mycenaean form Mycenaean Greek pa-we-a shows that the stem once ended in /w/.^[3][6] Pokorny put it under Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to weave”) with Lithuanian bùrva, a kind of garment, and Lithuanian bùrė (“sail”), but Frisk and Beekes, following Fraenkel, reject that link.^[6][3][2] Solmsen connected it with φάρσος (phársos) and φάρυγξ (phárunx).^[2][3] Van Beek notes that the derivation from a syllabic liquid *bʰr̥-wos is unproved, since the word may be a loan.^[7] A Semitic origin, from Akkadian apāru (“to cover the head”) or Biblical Hebrew פְּאֵר (pəʾēr, “turban”), has been proposed and rejected.^[8]

The ancient lexica derived it from φέρω (phérō), or from its being fitted together in the weave.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets record cloths as Mycenaean Greek pa-we-a.^[2][4] In Homer it is a large mantle worn by people of rank, a web on the loom, and a piece of cloth: Penelope's web is a φᾶρος, and Calypso brings cloth for sails.^[10][5]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to epic and tragic poetry.^[5] Besides the cloak, worn by men and women alike and drawn over the head in grief, it meant a sailcloth in Bacchylides, a bedspread in Sophocles, and a shroud for the dead, the web Penelope wove for Laertes.^[11][5][10] Herodotus used it twice, which a lexicon called Corinthian usage.^[5]

Beekes adds a Hesychian verb φάραι (phárai, “to weave, plait”) and the compound μελαμφαρής (melampharḗs, “with a black garment”) in Bacchylides.^[2]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – Tablets record cloths as Mycenaean Greek pa-we-a.^[2][4]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a great mantle, and the Odyssey for Penelope's web.^[10][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of a woman's cloak.^[5][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Xenophanes uses it for a cloak, and Bacchylides for a sail.^[5][11][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a mantle, and Sophocles for a bedspread and a shroud.^[5][11][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large piece of cloth, a web; sailcloth, a sail.^[5][11][10]
2. A wide cloak or mantle without sleeves, worn by men and women, and drawn over the face in mourning.^[5][11][10]
3. A bedspread, coverlet.^[5][11]
4. A shroud for a corpse.^[11][5]

Word family

• φάρινος (phā́rinos)
• φάριον (phárion)
• φαροφόρος (pharophóros)

Usage notes

Sophocles' phrase “the cloak of shamelessness” was explained by Hesychius from the Iliad.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek: Linguistic Prehistory of the Greek Dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
9. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
10. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
11. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge