ἔνθεος

Forms

ἔνθεος (éntheos) m or f (neuter ἔνθεον); second declension^[1] Contracted form in later prose ἔνθους (énthous).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) + θεός (theós, “god”): “with the god inside”.^[1][4] Later prose contracted it to ἔνθους (énthous), the stem of ἐνθουσιάζω (enthousiázō, “to be inspired”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, where someone is “possessed by Ares”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is the state of those whom a god has seized: Sophocles calls the Bacchants “god-filled women”, and in Euripides' Hippolytus a woman is asked whether she is possessed by Pan or Hecate.^[2][3] Aeschylus also uses it of prophetic arts and of a mind that Zeus has filled with an art.^[2] It belongs to the Greek idea of enthusiasm, being taken over by a higher power so that one is no longer oneself.^[6] Xenophon speaks of people inspired by love, Plato of inspired prophecy and of being inspired towards virtue, and Aristotle calls poetry “an inspired thing”.^[2][3]

Later prose used the contracted form, and Lucian describes a crowd that followed a prophet “inspired and maddened by hope”.^[2][3] In early Christian literature it occurs only as a variant reading in Ignatius.^[7] Hesychius glosses it as “glorious, honoured, divine”.^[8] Latin borrowed it as entheus, used by Seneca of Medea, who is compared to a maenad.^[9][3][1] Modern Greek has it as the learned ένθεος (éntheos), “divinely inspired”.^[4]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of someone possessed by Ares and of prophetic arts.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles calls the Bacchants “god-filled women”, and Euripides uses it of possession by Pan or Hecate.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon writes of people inspired by love, and Plato of inspired prophecy.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls poetry an inspired thing.^[2][3]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo uses the contracted form ἔνθους (énthous).^[2][3]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of a crowd frenzied with hope.^[3]
• Modern Greek – The learned ένθεος (éntheos) means “divinely inspired”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of the god, inspired, possessed, especially by Dionysus; with a genitive, inspired with an art; inspired with love of something.^[2][3]
2. Of divine frenzy, inspired by the god: of prophecy, arts and poetry.^[2][3]
3. Divine.^[1][8]
4. (neuter plural) Frenzied rites.^[2]

Word family

• ἐνθεάζω (entheázō)
• ἐνθουσιάζω (enthousiázō)

Related words

• θεός (theós)
• ἐνθουσιασμός (enthousiasmós)
• Latin entheus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann