ἀγών

Forms

ᾰ̓γών (agṓn) m (genitive ᾰ̓γῶνος); third declension^[1] Aeolic ἄγωνος, of the second declension.^[2]

Etymology

In Beekes's view it is from Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to lead, drive”), with the original sense “gathering, rally (to watch games)”.^[3] LSJ and the CGL also connect it with that verb, and the DGE notes how far it has moved from the verb's original sense.^[3][2][4][5] The verb is an old thematic present, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”), cognate with Latin agō.^[3][6]

Wiktionary instead takes the first sense, “gathering”, from ἀγείρω (ageírō, “to gather”), comparing ἀγορά (agorá) and Sanskrit गण (gaṇa, “troop, assembly”), and only the later senses from the verb meaning “lead”,^[1] and it also compares Sanskrit आजि (ājí, “race, contest, battle”).^[1] The Byzantine Etymologicum Genuinum also derived it from “lead”, because it brings people together, and John Lydus from “no corner”, because the place of the games was round.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a gathering or assembly, of people come to watch games or of ships drawn up on the shore, and the place where contests are held.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

From the assembly gathered for the games the word came to mean the games themselves, a festival such as the one at Olympia, and a single contest, athletic, musical or dramatic.^[4][2] In the 5th century it widened to any struggle: a battle, a debate, a contest of words, and in law a trial or lawsuit.^[2][4] Thucydides also uses it of mental struggle and anxiety, the sense that lives on in its derivative ἀγωνία (agōnía).^[2]

The New Testament carries the image of the athletic contest over to the moral and spiritual struggle.^[9] It was borrowed into Latin as agon, and Coptic had it by about AD 500.^[10][11] The Modern Greek αγώνας (agónas) is a struggle or effort, a contest and a fight; some of its senses are learned.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the gathering for funeral games and of the space where they are held.^[2][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the games at Olympia.^[2][4]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of a struggle and Thucydides of a battle and of mental anguish.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – The orators use it of a lawsuit.^[2][4]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of the Christian's struggle.^[9]
• Modern Greek – αγώνας (agónas) means a struggle, a contest or a fight.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gathering, assembly, especially of spectators at games.^[2][4]
2. A place of contest, an arena, the lists.^[2][4]
3. An athletic festival, the games; the assembly of the Greeks at the national games.^[2][4]
4. A contest for a prize, athletic, musical or dramatic.^[2][4]
5. A struggle in general; a battle.^[2]
6. (law) A trial, an action at law.^[2][4]
7. A speech delivered in court or before an assembly, and (rhetoric) the main argument of a speech.^[2]
8. Mental struggle, anxiety.^[2]
9. (personified) Ἀγών, the divinity of the contest.^[2]

Word family

• ἀγωνία (agōníā)
• ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai)
• ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs)

Related words

• ἄγω (ágō)
• ἀγορά (agorá)
• Latin agon

Usage notes

The proverb “outside the arena” (ἔξω ἀγῶνος) meant beside the mark, wide of the point, from Pindar to Lucian.^[2][14] In tragedy “it is no contest of words” means that the time for talking is past.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
14. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg