ἐπιδήμιος

Forms

ἐπῐδήμῐος (epidḗmios) m or f (neuter ἐπῐδήμῐον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí) + δῆμος (dêmos, “people, country”) + -ιος (-ios).^[1][2][3] Chæréphon cites Mycenaean Greek o-pi-da-mi-jo, a plural, under this word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means “among one's own people”: in the Iliad a civil war is a πόλεμος ἐπιδήμιος, and plunderers of their own countrymen are ἐπιδήμιοι ἁρπακτῆρες; in the Odyssey a man's father is said to be at home.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

From “in the country” the word came to mean “staying in a country” as a visitor: Herodotus uses it of resident merchants, and Apollonius of Rhodes of settling in a place.^[5][6] In Apollonius it also describes a custom of the land, the lack of shame about lovemaking in public.^[6][5][7]

The Hippocratic writers called a disease that is widespread among a people ἐπιδήμιος, “prevalent, epidemic”.^[5][7] In Plutarch it means common, commonplace.^[5] Late Greek used ἐπιδήμια θύειν for a sacrifice for someone's arrival.^[5] The Byzantine lexica gloss it as ἐμφύλιος (emphúlios) “of one's own people” and κοινός “common”.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of civil war and of men robbing their own people, the Odyssey of a man at home.^[3][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of resident merchants.^[5][6][10]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it of an epidemic disease.^[5][10]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of settling in a place.^[5][6][10]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of what is commonplace.^[5][10]
• 4th century AD – Himerius uses ἐπιδήμια θύειν of a sacrifice for an arrival.^[5][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Among one's own people, at home; of war, civil; of robbers, preying on their own countrymen.^[5][6][3]
2. Staying in a country, resident; settling in a place.^[5][6]
3. Of a custom, of the country; of lovemaking, done openly.^[6][5]
4. (medicine) Of diseases, prevalent, epidemic.^[5][7]
5. Common, commonplace.^[5]
6. As a noun, τὰ ἐπιδήμια, a sacrifice for someone's arrival.^[5]

Related words

• δῆμος (dêmos)
• ἐπιδημία (epidēmía)
• ἐπιδημέω (epidēméō)
• ἐμφύλιος (emphúlios)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
9. ^ 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