ἀοιδή

Forms

ᾰ̓οιδή (aoidḗ) f (genitive ᾰ̓οιδῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀείδω (aeídō, “to sing”) + -ή (-ḗ), with the o-grade of the verb's root.^[1][2] The Proto-Hellenic form is reconstructed as *awoidā́.^[1] The contracted Attic form is ᾠδή (ōidḗ).^[2][3]

The ablaut of the verb points to Proto-Indo-European *h₂u̯eid- (“to sing”), but Beekes knows no cognate outside Greek, and he finds Harðarson's reconstruction *h₂ue-(h₂)ud-, with loss of the laryngeal, difficult.^[2] He compares αὐδή (audḗ, “voice”) and ἀηδών (aēdṓn, “nightingale”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[4][5] In the Iliad it means singing and the art of song, which the Muses took away from the singer Thamyris, and also a dirge sung over Hector.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Odyssey it is the lay of the bards, and also the subject of song: the gods spin misfortune so that later generations may have something to sing about.^[5][3] Lyric poets and the tragedians use it for songs of every kind, of joy as well as of grief, and of a song meant to keep a person's deeds alive among those who come after; it is also the song of the nightingale or the swan.^[6][3] Theognis and Theocritus use it for a person who becomes the theme of song.^[3][6]

Apollonius of Rhodes uses it for a magic incantation, and the magical papyri for a sacred hymn.^[6][7] In Attic prose the contracted form was the ordinary word, and the lexicographers explain the poetic word by it.^[3][8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for singing and for a dirge, and the Odyssey for a bard's lay and for the subject of song.^[5][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Shield uses it for singing to the dance.^[3][10]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for a person who becomes a theme of song.^[3][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a song sung in Egypt.^[3][10]
• 5th century BC – Euripides writes of the song of the lyre.^[3][10]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it for a magic spell.^[6][10]
• 13th century – The lexicon of Zonaras explains it by the Attic form.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Singing, the act or the art of song.^[6][5][3]
2. A song or lay, of joy or of grief; a dirge.^[6][5][3]
3. A theme of song: the person or thing sung of.^[6][5][3]
4. An incantation, a magic spell.^[6]

Word family

• ἀοίδιμος (aoídimos)
• ἀοιδιάω (aoidiáō)

Related words

• ἀείδω (aeídō)
• ᾠδή (ōidḗ)
• ἀοιδός (aoidós)
• αὐδή (audḗ)
• ἀηδών (aēdṓn)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Muñoz Delgado, Luis (2001), Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos, Madrid: CSIC
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge