ἔπος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /é.pos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈe.pos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈe.pos/^[1]

Forms

ἔπος (épos) n (genitive ἔπεος or ἔπους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *wékʷos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wékʷos, from *wekʷ- (“to speak”).^[1][2] Elean and Cypriot ϝέπος (wépos) is identical with Sanskrit वचस् (vácas, “word”) and Avestan vacah- (vacah-, “word”).^[2][3] The same root gives the aorist εἶπον (eîpon, “I said”), the root noun in the accusative ὄπα (ópa, “voice”), and ὄσσα (óssa, “rumour”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it from the first book of the Iliad (1.77) for a word, speech or utterance, often paired with μῦθος (mûthos) (Odyssey 4.597).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Homer and later it is anything spoken: an oracle, advice, a proverb, an order, a message, a story; one's word, a promise; and the word as opposed to the deed, ἔργον (érgon).^[6][1] Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato use it for a single word, especially when discussing its meaning.^[6] Pindar, Herodotus and Thucydides use it for a line of hexameter verse, and in the plural for epic poetry.^[6][2]

Its derivatives include ἐπικός (epikós) “epic” and the diminutive ἐπύλλιον (epúllion).^[2] Latin borrowed it as epos.^[7] In Modern Greek έπος is an epic poem, from the ancient plural τὰ ἔπη, and Homer's “winged words” survive as a phrase.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for words and speech.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for lines of verse.^[6][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the plural for epic poetry.^[6][2][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a single word.^[6][9]
• Modern Greek – έπος means an epic.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A word, utterance, speech; a saying, a story.^[5][6]
2. One's word, a promise.^[1]
3. Word, as opposed to deed.^[6][1]
4. A single word.^[6][1]
5. A line of verse;^[6] (plural) epic poetry.^[6][2]

Word family

• ἐποποιία (epopoiíā)
• ἐπικός (epikós)
• ἐπύλλιον (epúllion)

Related words

• Latin epos
• English epic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c 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 i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge