ἀφρός

Forms

ᾰ̓φρός (aphrós) m (genitive ᾰ̓φροῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3][4] Meillet compared Old Armenian փրփուր (pʻrpʻur, “foam”), but Beekes objects that the initial ⟨ἀ-⟩ is unexplained and that the /*bʰ/ the Greek word presupposes did not give Armenian ⟨pʻ⟩.^[2] The comparison with Sanskrit अभ्र (abhrá, “cloud”), from Proto-Indo-European *n̥bʰrós, fits the form but not the meaning, and Beekes, Frisk and the DGE doubt it.^[2][1][3] Beekes also separates it from ὄμβρος (ómbros).^[2]

Ancient grammarians explained foam as what is sent forth with force, taking the ⟨ἀ-⟩ as intensive.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, meaning the foam of the sea or of a river, and the froth around a lion's mouth.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it in the Theogony, and later poets of the froth of wine.^[7][8] Aeschylus and Sophocles use it for frothy blood, and the Hippocratic writers for the foam at the mouth of the sick; the New Testament uses it for the foam of a boy in an epileptic fit.^[6][8][9] The physicians also used it for a frothy substance, ἀφρὸς νίτρου, the “foam of soda”.^[6] Derivatives include ἀφρώδης “foaming” and the verbs ἀφρέω and ἀφρίζω “to foam”.^[10]

The word has stayed in use without a break: medieval vernacular Greek kept it, and Modern Greek αφρός (afrós) means foam or froth.^[11][12][4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the foam of the sea, of a river and of a lion's jaws.^[5][7]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony.^[7][3]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for froth at a person's mouth.^[8][3]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus and Sophocles use it for frothy blood, and the Hippocratic writers for foam at the mouth.^[6][3]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Luke uses it for the foam of an epileptic.^[9][6]
• Modern Greek – αφρός still means foam.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Foam on the sea or a river; the froth of wine.^[6][8]
2. Froth or slaver at the mouth of an animal or person, from rage, exhaustion, poison or illness.^[6][8][9]
3. Frothy blood.^[6][8]
4. (medicine) A frothy substance, as ἀφρὸς νίτρου, a form of soda.^[6]

Word family

• ἀφρώδης (aphrṓdēs)
• ἀφρέω (aphréō)
• ἀφρίζω (aphrízō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki