ἀργός

ἀργός¹ shining, swift

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /ar.ɡós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /arˈɣos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /arˈɣos/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓ργός (argós) m (feminine ᾰ̓ργή, neuter ᾰ̓ργόν); first/second declension^[1] Mycenaean po-da-ko, Podargos “Swift-foot”, is the name of an ox.^[2][3]

Etymology

The adjective meaning “shining, swift” comes by dissimilation from an older *ἀργρός (*argrós),^[2][4][1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵ-ró-, from the root *h₂erǵ- (“white, bright”).^[3][1][2] Wackernagel saw that it matches Sanskrit ऋज्र (ṛjrá-, “shining; swift”), and that the compound form ἀργι- (argi-) matches the first member of ऋजिप्य (ṛjipyá-), an epithet of the eagle.^[2][4] Like ἀργός, the Sanskrit adjective means both “bright” and “quick”; the two senses probably met in the idea of sparkling, flashing movement.^[2][4][5] Some scholars prefer to explain the two senses by two separate roots.^[4]

Other formations of the root are ἄργυρος (árguros, “silver”), Latin argentum (“silver”), Sanskrit अर्जुन (árjuna-, “white, light”), Tocharian A ārki (“white”) and Hittite ḫarki- (“white, bright”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it describes the sleek, glistening oxen of the Iliad and a white goose in the Odyssey, but mostly hounds, which are “swift”, often πόδας ἀργοί “swift-footed”.^[6][5][7]

Semantic evolution

LSJ explains the sense “swift” from the flickering light that all quick motion seems to give off.^[5] With a shifted accent it became the name of Odysseus' dog Ἄργος (Árgos), “Swift-foot”, and of the mythical ship Ἀργώ (Argṓ).^[2][5] The adjective itself is rare after Homer: Aristotle uses it for “white”, and Callimachus for the bright north wind.^[5][7] The root lived on in compounds in ἀργι- and in ἐναργής (enargḗs) “clear”.^[2]

Modern Greek αργός (argós) continues the other ἀργός, “idle”.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for glistening oxen, a white goose and swift hounds.^[6][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus names the herdsman Argus, whose name LSJ explains as “bright-eyed”.^[5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for “white”.^[5][9]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of the bright north wind.^[7]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses it of swift dogs.^[5][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Shining, glistening, sleek; white.^[5][7][6]
2. Of dogs, swift; πόδας ἀργοί, swift-footed.^[5][7][6]

Word family

• ἀργεννός (argennós)
• ἀργιόδους (argiódous)
• ἐναργής (enargḗs)
• πόδαργος (pódargos)
• πύγαργος (pū́gargos)

ἀργός² idle

Etymology tree of ἀργός²

inherited borrowed derived

Ancient Greek ἔργον

Ancient Greek ἀργός

From the same root · ἀργός²

English synergy ← ἔργον

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /aːr.ɡós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /arˈɣos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /arˈɣos/^[1]

Forms

ᾱ̓ργός (ārgós) m (feminine ᾱ̓ργή, neuter ᾱ̓ργόν); first/second declension^[1] Epic and Ionic ἀεργός (aergós).^[9][7] Later also with a feminine in -ή.^[5][9]

Etymology

The adjective meaning “idle” is a contraction of ἀεργός (aergós), from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”), with the negative prefix.^[2][5][9][1] The contraction gives it a long /aː/, unlike the other ἀργός.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Theognis (6th century BC), of the past, which cannot be made “undone”, ἀργόν.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus uses it of people who do not work the land, Sophocles of an idler as opposed to a worker, and Plato of idle desires.^[5][7] It also describes land lying fallow, money that brings no return and time that bears no fruit.^[5][7] In the passive sense it is “unworked”: an unfinished joint in a 5th-century BC inscription, unground grain, unpolished stone.^[5][9][7] In Chrysippus, ἀργὸς λόγος “the lazy argument” is the name of a sophism.^[5]

The New Testament uses it of people standing unemployed in the marketplace, of idle widows, and of an idle word or an ineffective faith.^[10][11] Medieval Greek added the sense “slow”, now the main one in Modern Greek αργός (argós); its use for slow development is a semantic loan from French lent, and for crude oil from English crude.^[8]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for “undone”: what is past cannot be made undone.^[9][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of those who do not work the land;^[5] Sophocles of an idler.^[5][7]
• 5th century BC – An Attic inscription uses it of an unfinished joint in masonry.^[9][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato writes of idle desires;^[5] Isocrates and Xenophon of fallow land.^[5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses a separate feminine form.^[5][7]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus' sophism is called the “lazy argument”.^[5]
• Medieval Greek – It takes on the sense “slow”.^[8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek αργός (argós) means slow and idle, and of land fallow.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not working; idle, lazy; of the well-born, leisured.^[7][5][7]
2. Free from (a task or activity), with the genitive.^[5][7]
3. Of land, fallow; of money, assets or time, unproductive, fruitless.^[5][7]
4. Of weapons, ineffective.^[7]
5. (passive) Unworked, unprepared, unpolished.^[5][9]
6. (passive) Not done, left undone; unattempted.^[5][9]
7. (New Testament) Unemployed; useless, ineffective.^[10][11]

Word family

• ἀργέω (argéō)
• ἀργία (argíā)
• λήθαργος (lḗthargos)