Etymologically
Log in

ἀείρω

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 01:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /a.ěː.rɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /aˈi.ro/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /aˈi.ro/[1]

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