ἀνεψιός
Pronunciation
- 5th-century BC Attic: /a.nep.si.ós/[1]
- 4th-century AD Koine: /a.nep.siˈos/[1]
- 10th-century Byzantine: /a.nep.siˈos/[1]
Forms
ᾰ̓νεψῐός (anepsiós) m (genitive ᾰ̓νεψῐοῦ); second declension[1]
Etymology
It goes back to a derivative *nepti̯o- of Proto-Indo-European *népōts (“grandson, descendant”).[2][3][1] The same derivative is seen in Avestan naptiia- (“descendant”) and in the Old Church Slavonic word for “nephew”, while the underived noun survives in Latin nepōs and, according to the DGE, in νέποδες (népodes).[2][3] Beekes, however, does not connect the latter with it.[2]
The initial ἀ- is explained in two ways: as the reflex of a laryngeal, *h₂-, or, following Benveniste, as Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- (“together”), expressing that cousins stand in a reciprocal relation.[2][1] Wiktionary notes that both are difficult, since νέπους (népous) has no ἀ- and the latter should have given a rough breathing.[1]
The ancient grammarians derived it from ἀνάπτω (anáptō, “to attach”), a cousin being one attached to the family.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is found from Homer on; in the Iliad it means a cousin, and also more generally a kinsman.[5][6]
Semantic evolution
From Homer to the Hellenistic period it meant a first cousin, or a cousin in general.[7][6] Isaeus and Theocritus speak of a cousin on the father's side.[7][6] The comic poet Strattis speaks jokingly of a “cousin of eels”.[7] The Septuagint and the New Testament use it in the same sense: Mark is called the cousin of Barnabas in the Letter to the Colossians.[8]
In the Middle Ages it shifted to “nephew”, the son of one's brother or sister, and the form ανιψιός (anipsiós), with the first vowel assimilated to the second, appears from the 11th century.[9][10][11] Modern Greek has ανιψιός (anipsiós) and Modern Greek ανεψιός (anepsiós), “nephew”.[9]
Timeline
- Homer – The Iliad uses it for a cousin.[5][12]
- 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a first cousin.[7]
- 5th–4th century BC – Isaeus speaks of a cousin on the father's side.[7]
- 11th century AD – The form ανιψιός (anipsiós) appears, later meaning a nephew.[10][9]
- Modern Greek – ανιψιός (anipsiós) means a nephew.[9]
Meanings
Noun
- A first cousin; a cousin.[7][6]
- A kinsman, a member of the same family or people.[6]
- (Byzantine) A nephew.[9][11]
Word family
- ἀνεψιά (anepsiá)
Related words
- Latin nepōs
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d 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
- ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
- ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
- ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
- ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
- ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux