ἀντωνυμία

Forms

ἀντωνυμία (antōnumía) f (genitive ἀντωνῠμίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “instead of”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”) + -ία (-ía): a word used instead of a name or noun.^[2][3][4] The second member is the dialect form of ὄνομα (ónoma), and its first vowel is lengthened in the compound, as in μετωνυμία (metōnumía) and συνωνυμία (sunōnumía).^[2] Bailly derives it from the adjective ἀντώνυμος (antṓnumos).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Art of Grammar of Dionysius Thrax, in the 2nd or 1st century BC, as the grammatical term for the pronoun.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a technical term of grammar: Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch use it, and Apollonius Dyscolus wrote a treatise On the Pronoun, which accounts for most of its occurrences in the 2nd century AD.^[8][7][6] Late philosophers and theologians, Damascius and Leontius of Byzantium, used it more loosely for an interchange of names or a synonym.^[7][8]

The Latin term prōnōmen, the source of the English pronoun, is a loan translation of it.^[9] Modern Greek has the learned αντωνυμία (antonymía) for the pronoun.^[10]

Timeline

• 2nd–1st century BC – Dionysius Thrax uses it for the pronoun.^[6][7]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it in his work on literary composition.^[8][7]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus writes a treatise On the Pronoun.^[8][7]
• 5th–6th century AD – Damascius uses it for an interchange of names.^[8][7]
• 6th century AD – Leontius of Byzantium uses it for the different terms applied to one substance.^[7]
• Mid-15th century – The English word pronoun appears, from the Latin loan translation of the Greek term.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned αντωνυμία (antonymía) is the grammatical term for the pronoun.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) A pronoun.^[8][7][1]
2. (late) A substitute name, a synonym; an interchange of names.^[7][8]

Related words

• ὄνομα (ónoma)
• μετωνυμία (metōnumía)
• συνωνυμία (sunōnumía)
• Latin prōnōmen
• English pronoun

Usage notes

Zonaras defines the pronoun as a word taken in place of a name, either a proper name or a common noun, as when a man says “I” instead of his own name.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
4. ^ Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
5. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius