ἀΐω

Forms

ᾰ̓ῐ̈́ω (aḯō) ^[1] Cypriot future awiyēsomai.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euis- (“to perceive”).^[2] The imperfect is generally connected with Sanskrit आविस् (āvís, “evidently, openly”) and a Slavic adverb of the same meaning, so the Greek verb is probably made from this adverb.^[2] Kloekhorst has shown that Hittite au- (“to see”) can belong here too.^[2] Schulze thought the imperfect an old aorist from which the present was formed, and found traces of an older present in Hesychius' ἄει (áei, “hears”), but this is hard to fit with the etymology.^[2] Within Greek it is related to αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai);^[2] LSJ compares Latin audiō.^[3] Szemerényi's link with the word for “ear” is improbable.^[2]

Ancient writers explained it as imitating the sound of the vowel a (Plutarch) or derived it from a cry meaning “voice”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to perceive: to hear a sound or a voice, to feel a blow and, once, to see.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb is epic and lyric; the tragedians use it in lyric passages, Sophocles only once in dialogue, and it has only a present and an imperfect, with an aorist only in the compound ἐπαΐω (epaḯō) in Herodotus.^[3] With the genitive it came to mean to listen to, to heed or obey, as in Aeschylus and Aristophanes, and of gods to listen to prayers.^[3][6] Hellenistic poets such as Apollonius of Rhodes and Callimachus revived it.^[6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for hearing and perceiving.^[5][3]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho uses it with the genitive.^[3][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of cities obeying a king.^[3][6][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it once in dialogue, and Herodotus has the aorist of the compound ἐπαΐω.^[3][7]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it in epic.^[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hear a sound, a voice or words.^[3][6]
2. To perceive, feel; to see.^[3][5]
3. Of a god, to listen to an appeal or a prayer.^[6]
4. To give ear to, obey.^[3][6]

Word family

• εἰσαΐω (eisaḯō)
• ἐπαΐω (epaḯō)

Related words

• αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai)
• Latin audiō

Usage notes

LSJ and the CGL treat a second ἀΐω, related to ἄημι (áēmi) “to blow”, separately: it occurs once in the Iliad in a phrase meaning “when I was breathing out my life”.^[3][6][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
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 d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge