Etymologically
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ἀκούω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /a.kǔː.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /aˈku.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /aˈku.o/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓κούω (akoúō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *akouhō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti.[1] Beekes traces it to a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂keus- (“to hear”) and sets it beside Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hausjan, “to hear”), both from a present *h₂kous-ie/o-; the Greek present goes back to *ἀκουσ-yω (*akous-yō), whose /s/ still shows in ἀκουστός (akoustós) and the perfect passive ἤκουσμαι (ḗkousmai).[2][3] The English words hear and hark are cognate.[1] The DGE groups it with κοέω (koéō, “to perceive”) under a root *keuH- (“to hear”), with Latin caveō (“to beware”) as a cognate.[4] The Cypriot gloss ἀκεύει (akeúei, “watches over”) in Hesychius may preserve the simple verb.[2]

An old explanation makes it a compound of ἀκ- (ak-, “sharp”) and οὖς (oûs, “ear”), which ὠτακουστέω (ōtakoustéō, “to eavesdrop”) might support, but Beekes thinks it uncertain.[2] The perfect ἀκήκοα (akḗkoa) must go back to an older reduplicated *ἀκᾱκοϝα (*akākowa).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning to hear a person or a sound, and also to listen to and obey someone.[2][5] The first instance in the GLAUx corpus is in the first book of the Iliad.[6]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer the verb takes an accusative of the thing heard or a genitive of the person or sound, and it can mean to listen, to obey, and, of a god, to hear a prayer.[5] In the present it could have the sense of a perfect, “to know by hearsay”.[5] After Homer it developed the sense “to hear oneself spoken of, to be called”: with an adverb such as “badly” it meant to be abused or slandered, and in Sophocles and Plato it means to be reputed such and such.[5][3] Polybius uses the participle for the readers of a book.[5]

In the New Testament it is common for hearing and heeding a message, and Koine formed a new active future ἀκούσω (akoúsō) beside the classical ἀκούσομαι (akoúsomai).[5][7][8] Its derivatives include ἀκοή (akoḗ, “hearing, report”), ἄκουσμα (ákousma, “thing heard”), ἀκουστής (akoustḗs, “listener, pupil”) and ἀκουστικός (akoustikós, “of hearing”).[2]

The verb has lived on through every period of Greek.[3] Medieval vernacular texts also have the forms ακούγω (akoúgo) and ακώ (akó).[9] It survives as Modern Greek ακούω (akoúo).[10][9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for hearing, listening and obeying.[5][6]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and Sophocles use it for being spoken of well or badly.[5][4]
  • 4th century BC – Plato uses it for being reputed to be something.[5][4]
  • 4th century BC – Hyperides has the active future ἀκούσω, which later becomes usual.[8][4]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the participle for the readers of a book.[5][4]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for hearing and heeding a message.[7]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek ακούω (akoúo).[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hear a person or a sound.[5][8]
  2. To hear of or about something or someone; to learn by hearsay.[5]
  3. To listen to a speaker or singer.[5]
  4. To listen to and obey a person or an authority.[5][2]
  5. Of a god: to hear and answer a prayer.[5]
  6. To hear oneself spoken of, to be called; with “badly”, to be slandered, with “well”, to be praised.[5][8]
  7. To be reputed to be such and such.[5]
  8. (participle, Koine) The readers of a book.[5]

Word family

  • ἀκοή (akoḗ)
  • ἀκουστικός (akoustikós)
  • εἰσακούω (eisakoúō)
  • ἐπακούω (epakoúō)
  • ἄκουσμα (ákousma)
  • ἀκουστής (akoustḗs)
  • ἀκουστός (akoustós)
  • ὑπακούω (hupakoúō)
  • ὑπήκοος (hupḗkoos)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki