ἄχος

Forms

ᾰ̓́χος (ákhos) n (genitive ᾰ̓́χεος or ᾰ̓́χους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂égʰos,^[1] an s-stem noun of the root *h₂egʰ- (“to be upset, to be afraid”).^[1][2][3] Beekes and the DGE match it with the neuter s-stem Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (agis, “fear”) and Old English ege (“fear”), although the meanings differ; the root also gives Gothic and Old Irish verbs meaning “to fear”.^[3][4][2] The same root is seen in Sanskrit अघ (aghá, “evil, danger”).^[3][2][1] Chantraine calls the group expressive and its etymology not sure.^[5] The DGE thinks ἄχθος (ákhthos, “burden”) may come from the same root.^[4]

In Greek the noun goes with the verb ἄχνυμαι (ákhnumai, “to grieve”).^[3][2]

Ancient grammarians derived it from the privative ἀ- and a verb “to pour”: grief is what keeps the soul from being relaxed.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, first in its first book, where grief comes over Achilles.^[8][9] In Homer it is always pain of the mind: grief, sorrow, distress.^[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Homer also uses it of a thing that causes grief, and the plural for troubles or sorrows.^[9][11] Lyric and tragedy extend it to bodily pain: Pindar uses it of physical ills, and Aeschylus of the pain of a wound.^[10][11] Tragedy uses it too for an affliction or calamity, such as a defeat or a storm, and even for a person who brings grief to his friends.^[11]

The word is poetic and rare in prose, where Herodotus, Xenophon and Plutarch use it of grief.^[10] Hellenistic poets such as Apollonius of Rhodes and Theocritus use it of the pangs of love.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for grief and distress of mind.^[8][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of bodily ills.^[10][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus has one of its rare prose uses, of a girl who hanged herself from grief.^[10][4]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of the pangs of love.^[11][4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it in prose.^[10][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Grief, distress, sorrow of the mind or heart.^[10][11][9]
2. Bodily pain.^[10][11]
3. That which causes grief: an affliction, a calamity; of a person, a cause of grief.^[11][9]
4. (plural) Troubles, sorrows.^[9][10]

Related words

• ἄχνυμαι (ákhnumai)
• ἄχθος (ákhthos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f g Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
12. ^ Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter