ἔθνος

Forms

ἔθνος (éthnos) n (genitive ἔθνεος or ἔθνους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The etymology is unclear.^[2] Homer's metre shows an initial digamma, ϝέθνος (wéthnos).^[3][4] If the ending is a suffix, as in σμῆνος (smênos, “swarm”) and ἔρνος (érnos), the word may be inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swedʰ-nos, with the stem of ἔθος (éthos, “custom”), itself perhaps built on the reflexive pronoun Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”) that gives Greek ἕ (hé).^[2][3][5] Wiktionary analyses the stem as *swé with Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”).^[1] The DGE also derives ὀθνεῖος (othneîos, “foreign, alien”) and ἐθάς (ethás) from the same nasal stem;^[5] Beekes notes that a link with the adjective would rule out the reflexive pronoun.^[5][2] The word could also be of foreign origin.^[2]

Pronounced with h-, it passed into Armenian and, as Coptic ϩⲉⲑⲛⲟⲥ (hethnos), into Coptic, and the Gothic word for a heathen woman comes from it.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it means a body or throng of living beings: a band of comrades, the host of foot soldiers, the tribe of the Lycians, and swarms of bees and flies and flocks of birds; the Odyssey has the throngs of the dead.^[4][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Pindar used it for a race, the race of men as against the gods, and for a family;^[7][4] Euripides and Aeschylus applied it to groups such as the Erinyes.^[4][7] After Homer the main sense became a nation, a people: Herodotus calls the Medes an ἔθνος, with γένος (génos) as a subdivision of it.^[4][2] Plato and Xenophon used it for a class or caste of people, and Harpocration notes that Demosthenes calls a section of the citizens, such as farmers or merchants, an ἔθνος.^[7][4][9]

Aristotle uses the plural for the barbarian nations as opposed to the Greeks.^[4][7] The Septuagint used it for the nations other than Israel, and the New Testament for the Gentiles, also Gentile Christians; under Rome it meant a province.^[4][10][11] Modern Greek έθνος (éthnos) is a learned form whose sense of the modern nation follows French nation.^[11] Modern Greek built many learned derivatives on it in the 19th century.^[12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for bands of men, tribes, and swarms of animals.^[4][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the race of mortals.^[4][7][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a nation such as the Medes.^[4][7][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the plural for foreign nations as opposed to the Greeks.^[4][7][5]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for the nations other than Israel.^[4][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the Gentiles.^[10][4]
• 2nd century AD – Appian and papyri use it for a Roman province.^[4]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek έθνος (éthnos) means a nation.^[11][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A body or band of people living or acting together; a host of soldiers; a tribe.^[4][7]
2. A swarm, flock or herd of animals.^[7][4]
3. A race or sex: the race of mortals; the male or female sex.^[7]
4. A nation, people.^[7][4][10]
5. A class or caste of people; a section of the citizens.^[7][4][9]
6. (plural) Foreign nations as opposed to Greeks;^[4][7] (Septuagint, New Testament) the Gentiles, non-Jews.^[4][7][10]
7. (Roman period) A province.^[4]

Word family

• ἐθνικός (ethnikós)
• ἐθνάρχης (ethnárkhēs)
• ἐθναρχία (ethnarkhíā)
• ἐθνοφύλαξ (ethnophúlax)
• ἐθνάρχης (ethnárkhēs)

Related words

• ἔθος (éthos)
• ὀθνεῖος (othneîos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b Harpocration, Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos, ed. Wilhelm Dindorf (Oxford, 1853)
10. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
11. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας