ἀείρω

Forms

ἀείρω (aeírō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *awéřřō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wér-ye-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer-, a root whose meaning is uncertain (“to raise” or “to hang”).^[1][2][3] Beekes knows no sure cognates, but holds that the Greek form requires a root of this shape;^[2] Wiktionary lists Old Armenian գեր (ger, “above”) and Latin aperiō (“to open”) as possible ones.^[1] Frisk calls the verb unexplained.^[4]

The old idea that it was formed from ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”), as German lüften (“to lift”) is from Luft (“air”), is rejected by Beekes because the word for air has a long /aː/;^[2] Frisk thought the objection might not be decisive.^[4] The Attic form αἴρω (aírō) was probably rebuilt from the contracted future ἀρῶ (arô), from an unattested earlier ⟨ἀερῶ⟩.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, meaning to lift or raise something from the ground, such as a dead body or a helmet.^[5][6][7] The Homeric middle meant to take up for oneself, and so to carry off or win a prize.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Homer and the poets used the full form ἀείρω;^[5] Attic prose and tragic dialogue used αἴρω (aírō), which Homer has only once.^[5][8] From “lift” the verb spread to taking up and carrying, bearing a burden or a grief, raising an army, and exalting a person or praising him in words.^[5][8] Thucydides used it of fleets and armies getting under way, so that the active could mean “set out”.^[5][8] The middle came to mean “take upon oneself, undertake”, as of starting a war, and “stir up” a quarrel.^[5]

To lift a thing is often to take it away, and αἴρω also meant to remove, and then to make away with or destroy; in the Gospel of John the crowd cries “away with him!” with its imperative.^[5][9] In Hippocratic writing the passive was used of swelling organs.^[5]

It survives as Modern Greek αίρω (éro), a learned word from Ancient Greek, meaning to carry, to raise to a higher level, and to lift or remove an obstacle or a ban, the last two senses modelled on French.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for lifting a body, a helmet or a cup, and the middle for winning a prize.^[5][6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus has the Aeolic form ἀέρρω.^[5][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for raising an army and for exalting a person.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of fleets and armies setting out.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use the passive of swelling organs.^[5][11]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it for taking away and destroying.^[5][9]
• Modern Greek – It is used as Modern Greek αίρω (éro), a learned word, with senses partly modelled on French.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lift, raise up.^[5][8]
2. To take up and carry off or bring.^[5][8]
3. To take up and bear, as a burden or a sorrow.^[5]
4. Of fleets and armies, to get under way, set out.^[5][8]
5. To raise or levy an army.^[5]
6. To exalt; to extol in words, exaggerate.^[5]
7. To take away, remove; to make away with, destroy.^[5][9]
8. (middle) To take up for oneself; to carry off, win.^[5][8]
9. (middle) To stir up, begin, undertake (a war); to take upon oneself (toil, grief).^[5][8]
10. (passive) To hang, be suspended, as a sword from its belt.^[5]
11. (passive, medicine) To be swollen.^[5]

Word family

• ἀναείρω (anaeírō)
• ἄορ (áor)
• ἀορτήρ (aortḗr)
• ἄρσις (ársis)
• ἀρτηρία (artēríā)
• ἐπαίρω (epaírō)
• ἐπήορος (epḗoros)
• κατήορος (katḗoros)
• μετέωρος (metéōros)
• μετήορος (metḗoros)
• παραείρω (paraeírō)
• συναείρω (sunaeírō)
• συνήορος (sunḗoros)

Usage notes

Beekes lists a second ἀείρω “to bind together, join”, used in Homer mostly with σύν of yoking horses, with Hesychius' gloss ξυναίρεται “is attached”.^[2][12] Solmsen separated it from the verb “to raise”, and Frisk followed him, while Chantraine took it for a technical use of the same verb.^[13][4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
13. ^ 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