Etymologically
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ἄορ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /á.or/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈa.or/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈa.or/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓́ορ (áor) n (genitive ᾰ̓́ορος); third declension[1]

Etymology

The etymology is uncertain.[2] It has long been taken as a root noun related to ἀείρω (aeírō, “to lift, hang”), meaning properly “what hangs”, a sword carried on a belt, which would also fit the compound χρυσάορος (khrusáoros).[2][3] Chantraine prefers this view, with an o-grade or an Aeolic zero grade, because a hanging object better explains the varied uses of the compound, and Wiktionary gives it as a possible derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer-.[4][1]

Ruijgh instead reconstructed *n̥s-r̥ and connected it with Latin ēnsis (“sword”) and Sanskrit असि (así, “butcher's knife”), and Palaic ḫa-ši-i-ra-am (“dagger”) has been compared as well.[2][1] But an initial *h₂n̥s- should have given a Greek form beginning with alpha and nu, so Beekes leaves the question open.[2][1] Wiktionary suggests a link with Mycenaean Greek a-o-ri-me-ne, while Chantraine says the word has nothing to do with wa-o.[1][4]

Ancient grammarians derived it from the same verb: the Etymologicum Magnum reports Orus' view that it came, by metathesis, from a form meaning “fitted together”.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a sword hung from a belt, used in about fifteen formulaic expressions of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and interchangeable with ξίφος (xíphos).[4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

After Homer the word stayed poetic: Hesiod, Euripides, Callimachus and Theocritus use it for a sword.[8][9] In late epic it was stretched to other pointed weapons: Callimachus calls a trident a “three-pronged sword”, and Oppian uses it for the horn of the rhinoceros.[3][4][8]

The compound χρυσάορος, “with a golden sword”, is an epithet of Apollo in the Iliad, and is also given to Demeter, Artemis and Orpheus, which made scholars ask whether “of the golden sword” really fits them all; Χρυσάωρ (Khrusáōr) is also a personal name.[4]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a sword hung from a belt.[3][7]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony and the Shield.[9][8][10]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it in the Electra.[9][8][10]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus calls the trident a three-pronged sword.[3][4][10]
  • 3rd century AD – Oppian uses it for the horn of the rhinoceros, and Quintus of Smyrna still uses it for a sword.[3][4][5][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sword, properly one hung from a belt.[3][8]
  2. (late poetry) Any pointed weapon: a trident, the horn of a rhinoceros.[3][8]

Word family

  • χρυσάορος (khrusáoros)

Usage notes

In Odyssey 17.222 the masculine accusative plural ἄορας is probably a false reading for ἄορά γ’, “swords”.[3][4] Eustathius and the scholia instead took it as “women” given as prizes, and Hesychius glosses ἀόρων as “of women”.[3][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  5. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  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 Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  11. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)