Etymologically
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ἔπος

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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)
  • 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