ἔδω

Forms

ἔδω (édō); epic infinitive ἔδμεναι, imperfect ἔδον, iterative ἔδεσκον, future ἔδομαι, perfect participle ἐδηδώς, perfect passive ἐδήδοται.^[1][2] The aorist is supplied by φαγεῖν (phageîn), and Attic uses ἐσθίω (esthíō) for the present.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *édō (“to eat”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti, of the root *h₁ed- (“to eat”).^[3][4] The old athematic present survives in the epic infinitive and in the future, an old short-vowel subjunctive, and Greek developed thematic forms beside it, as Gothic 𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (itan) did.^[4][5]

Cognate with Hittite edmi (“I eat”), Sanskrit अद्मि (ádmi, “I eat”), Latin ēst (“eats”) and Lithuanian ėsti (“to eat”).^[4][5] The newer presents ἔσθω (ésthō) and ἐσθίω (esthíō) were built on the same root.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning to eat, of people, gods and animals, and of worms.^[1][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Homer also used it of suitors who devour another man's livelihood, and of eating one's heart out in sorrow.^[1][6] It stayed an epic verb: Attic used ἐσθίω (esthíō) instead, and ἔδω is rare in comedy, though Hippocratic texts and Theocritus still have it.^[2][1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of eating, of consuming another's property and of eating one's heart out.^[1][2]
• 5th century BC – Empedocles has the epic infinitive ἐέδμεναι, though the reading is uncertain.^[2][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of browsing goats.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To eat, of people, gods and animals.^[1][2]
2. To devour someone's property by feasting on it.^[1]
3. (figurative) To gnaw at, eat out one's heart.^[1][6]

Word family

• εἶδαρ (eîdar)
• ἐδωδή (edōdḗ)
• ἐδώδιμος (edṓdimos)
• ἐδητύς (edētū́s)
• ἔδεσμα (édesma)
• ἐδεστής (edestḗs)

Related words

• ἐσθίω (esthíō)
• ἔσθω (ésthō)
• Latin edō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge