ἑρμαφρόδιτος

Forms

ἑρμαφρόδιτος (hermaphróditos), with long ⟨ι⟩ (Ἑρμαφρόδῑτος), m; also used as an adjective.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is the name from Ancient Greek Ἑρμαφρόδιτος (Hermaphródītos), the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, used as a common noun for a person with the attributes of both sexes.^[1][3][4] The name is a compound from Ancient Greek Ἑρμῆς (Hermês) + Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodī́tē).^[5][6] Debrunner classes it with copulative compounds such as ἰατρόμαντις (iatrómantis, “physician and seer at once”), and as a synonym of ἀνδρόγυνος (andrógunos).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

LSJ's earliest example is in Diodorus Siculus, who uses it for a person who shares the attributes of both sexes.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The word is used by Lucian, Ptolemy and Galen, by Clement of Alexandria and by the astrologer Manetho.^[1][8] The physician Leonidas, quoted by Paul of Aegina, uses it as an adjective of a bodily condition.^[1] The lexica of Photius, the Etymologicum Magnum and the Lexica Segueriana give it two senses: someone with the organs of both sexes, or a man who plays both parts in sex.^[9][10][11] The figure belonged to art as well as to mythology.^[12]

Latin took it over as hermaphroditus,^[13] the source of English hermaphrodite (late 14th century).^[4] Modern Greek ερμαφρόδιτος (ermafróditos) is a learned word, used in biology of animals and plants with the organs of both sexes;^[3] its derivative ερμαφροδιτισμός (ermafroditismós) (1888) renders French hermaphrodisme.^[14]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses it for a person with the attributes of both sexes.^[1]
• 1st–2nd century AD – The physician Leonidas uses it as an adjective.^[1]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian, Ptolemy and Galen use it.^[1][8]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Clement of Alexandria uses the plural in the Paedagogus.^[8]
• Late 14th century – English hermaphrodite is first recorded, from Latin hermaphroditus.^[4]
• 1888 – Modern Greek forms ερμαφροδιτισμός (ermafroditismós), after French hermaphrodisme.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hermaphrodite, a person with the attributes of both sexes.^[1][2][6]
2. A man who takes both the active and the passive part in sex.^[9][11][10]

Adjective

1. Hermaphroditic, of a bodily condition.^[1]

Related words

• ἀνδρόγυνος (andrógunos)
• Latin hermaphroditus
• English hermaphrodite

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
3. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Debrunner, Albert (1917), Griechische Wortbildungslehre, Heidelberg: Winter; Greek tr. on the Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
10. ^ a b Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
12. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
13. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
14. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας