ἀνήρ

Forms

ᾱ̆̓νήρ (ānḗr) m (genitive ᾰ̓νδρός or ᾱ̓νέρος); third declension^[1] Epic genitive ἀνέρος, accusative ἀνέρα, the older forms;^[2] Attic ἀνδρός, ἄνδρα are analogical.^[2][3] Mycenaean derivatives and names such as Mycenaean Greek a-ta-no (Antanor).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *anḗr, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂nḗr (“man”);^[1][2] the initial ἀ- reflects the laryngeal.^[2] Cognate with Sanskrit नृ (nṛ́), Oscan nerum (“of men”), the name Latin Nerō, Middle Welsh ner (“chief”) and Albanian njerí (“person”).^[2][1] LSJ derives the stem ⟨ἀνδρ-⟩ from the zero grade.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets have derivatives such as the word for a statue and names in -ānōr.^[2] In Homer it means a man as opposed to a woman, often a warrior or a leader, but also a free man of the people.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

LSJ contrasts it with ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos), “human being” as opposed to beast: ἀνήρ is the male, and in Homer it already means a husband too.^[3][4] It could stress manly worth, “a real man” as opposed to a coward, and in the plural it named the citizen body: Attic orators addressed juries and assemblies as “men of Athens”.^[4] Set beside a noun or an ethnic name it meant little more than “a person”.^[4]

In the New Testament it means an adult male, and especially a husband, as often in the Gospels and the Epistles.^[5] Medieval Greek built άντρας (ántras) from the accusative ἄνδρα (ándra), the source of Modern Greek άντρας (ántras), which also has a learned form άνδρας.^[6]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – Derivatives and names from the word appear on Linear B tablets.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for men, warriors and husbands.^[3][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use the plural for a population of citizens.^[4][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for men and husbands.^[5]
• Middle Ages – Medieval Greek forms άντρας (ántras) from the accusative.^[6]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek άντρας (ántras).^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A man, an adult male, as opposed to a woman, a child or a slave; often a warrior.^[3][4]
2. (plural) The men of a city, its citizens; jurymen.^[4]
3. A husband; a lover.^[3][4]
4. A real man, as opposed to a coward.^[4]
5. A mortal man, as opposed to a god.^[4]
6. A person, with a noun or an ethnic name.^[4]

Word family

• ἀγήνωρ (agḗnōr)
• ἀνανδρία (anandríā)
• ἄνανδρος (ánandros)
• ἀνδραγαθίζομαι (andragathízomai)
• ἀνδρεία (andreíā)
• ἀνδρεῖος (andreîos)
• ἀνδρία (andría)
• ἀνδριάς (andriā́s)
• ἀνδρίον (andríon)
• ἀνδρόγυνος (andrógunos)
• ἀνδρόμεος (andrómeos)
• ἀνδρόσφιγξ (andrósphinx)

Related words

• ἄρσην (ársēn)
• ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos)

Usage notes

In Attic the article often merged with the noun, as ἁνήρ (hanḗr) for ὁ ἀνήρ.^[3] Ancient writers derived it from ἀνύω (anúō, “to accomplish”), because the man was held to be more active than the woman, or from ἄνω (ánō, “upwards”).^[8]

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 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 e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram