ἀδελφός

Forms

ᾰ̓δελφός (adelphós) m (genitive ᾰ̓δελφοῦ, feminine ᾰ̓δελφή); second declension^[1] Epic and Ionic ἀδελφεός (adelpheós), and Cretan ἀδελφιός (adelphiós) and ἀδευφιός (adeuphiós) in the Gortyn law code.^[2][3] Hesychius records Laconian ἀδελιφήρ (adeliphḗr), shaped by φράτηρ (phrā́tēr).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *əgʷelpʰós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-gʷelbʰ-ós (“from the same womb”).^[1] It is a compound of copulative ἀ- (a-), from Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- (“one”), and a word for “womb” seen in δελφύς (delphū́s, “womb”),^[3] so it first meant “born of the same womb”.^[3][4][5] Hesychius already explains it so.^[3][4] The smooth breathing is due to the dissimilation of the two aspirates.^[4] That noun is cognate with Sanskrit गर्भ (gárbha, “womb”).^[1]

The older form is epic and Ionic ἀδελφεός (adelpheós), and the Attic form was shortened from its contracted cases.^[3] Its ⟨ε⟩ cannot come from an older ⟨εϝ⟩, because Cretan has ἀδελφιός (adelphiós), and Wackernagel explained it by the suffix *-eio- of material adjectives.^[3][4]

The inherited word for “brother”, φράτηρ (phrā́tēr), had come to mean a member of a phratry, a religious and political group, and Greek probably first said “brother of the same womb” to name a real brother.^[3] Kretschmer took the word as a trace of a matrilineal society, but Gonda thought it pointed rather to a society with concubines, whose children had different mothers.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, in the epic form ἀδελφεός, “brother”.^[6][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek the plural could mean “brother and sister”, and the Ptolemies were worshipped as θεοὶ ἀδελφοί, the “sibling gods”.^[2] As an adjective it means “of a brother or sister”, then “paired, twin” of hands, feet or eyes, and “akin” of things, often with a genitive, in Sophocles and Plato.^[2][7]

The Septuagint, following Biblical Hebrew אָח (ʾāḥ), extends it to any kinsman, a fellow tribesman and a fellow man.^[8][9][2] In Hellenistic papyri it is a word of address in letters, a word a wife used for her husband, and a name for colleagues and for members of religious communities such as that of the Serapeum.^[2] In the New Testament it names the brothers of Jesus and, above all, fellow Christians.^[9][2]

Medieval Greek also had αδερφός (aderfós), with r, which lives on in the spoken language.^[10] Modern Greek has both αδελφός (adelfós) and αδερφός (aderfós), and the feminine αδελφή (adelfí) also means a nurse or a nun, a sense modelled on English sister, German Schwester and French sœur.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the epic form ἀδελφεός for a brother.^[6][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it as an adjective, “of a brother”.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses the plural for brother and sister.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses the adjective for things akin to each other.^[2][5]
• 3rd century BC – Inscriptions call the Ptolemies θεοὶ ἀδελφοί.^[2]
• 2nd century BC – Papyri use it as a term of address in letters.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for fellow Christians.^[9][2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has the form αδερφός (aderfós).^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brother; in the plural, brothers, or brother and sister.^[2][7]
2. A kinsman; a fellow tribesman; a fellow man or neighbour.^[8][2]
3. A colleague or member of a society; a term of address in letters, also from a wife to her husband.^[2]
4. (New Testament) A fellow Christian.^[9][2]

Adjective

1. Of a brother or sister, brotherly, sisterly.^[2][7]
2. Paired, twin, of hands, feet or eyes.^[7][2]
3. Akin, closely related, with a genitive or dative.^[7][2]

Word family

• ἀδελφή (adelphḗ)
• ἀδελφιδοῦς (adelphidoûs)
• ἀδελφίδιον (adelphídion)

Related words

• δελφύς (delphū́s)

Usage notes

Euripides has the saying χαλεποὶ πόλεμοι ἀδελφῶν, “wars between brothers are cruel”, which LSJ lists as a proverb.^[2] The vocative is ἄδελφε, accented on the first syllable.^[2][9]

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 v w Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki