ἔρις

Forms

ἔρῐς (éris) f (genitive ἔρῐδος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] The personal names Ἀμφήριτος (Amphḗritos) and Ἀνήριτος (Anḗritos) show that it was originally an i-stem, the dental of the genitive being secondary, so it cannot come from ἐρείδω (ereídō, “to prop”).^[2][3][4]

There is no evidence for a link with ὀρίνω (orī́nō, “to stir up”), ἐρέθω (eréthō, “to provoke”) or Ἐρινύς (Erīnū́s).^[2][3] The old comparison with Sanskrit अरि (ari, “enemy, stranger”), itself an obscure word, is hardly right.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary notes that Vasmer compared Sanskrit ऋति (ṛtí, “assault”) and Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“struggle”).^[1]

The verb ἐρίζω (erízō, “to quarrel, vie”) is formed from it.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is mostly the strife of battle, and Chantraine takes its original sense to be ardour in combat.^[5][3][6] The Iliad also personifies it as Eris, a goddess who rouses men to war.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In the Odyssey it is more often rivalry in work or in contests for a prize.^[5][6] Hesiod distinguishes a good Eris, tied to emulation, from a bad one, tied to quarrelling, and makes Eris a daughter of Night.^[3][5] Heraclitus made strife a principle of nature: all things come about through it.^[5] Herodotus, Euripides and Thucydides use it of a dispute in words, and Plato and Isocrates of argument aimed at winning rather than at truth, the art called ἐριστική (eristikós).^[5][7][3]

In the New Testament it is rivalry and strife among believers.^[8][9] The learned Modern Greek έριδα (érida), formed on the epic accusative ἔριδα, means a quarrel, as in “the apple of discord”.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of strife in battle and personifies it as Eris.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod distinguishes a good and a bad Eris.^[3][5][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus makes strife a principle of nature.^[5][7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a wordy dispute.^[5][7][12]
• 4th century BC – Plato uses it of quibbling disputation.^[7][12]
• 1st century AD – Paul's letters use it of rivalry and strife.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned word Modern Greek έριδα (érida) means a quarrel.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Strife, contention, quarrel, wrangling.^[5][7]
2. The strife of battle, fighting.^[7][6]
3. A dispute in words, controversy, and (pejoratively) quibbling disputation.^[7][5]
4. Rivalry, competition, a contest.^[7][5]
5. (New Testament) Discord, dissension in a community.^[8]
6. (personified) Eris, goddess of strife and discord.^[5][6]

Word family

• ἐρίζω (erízō)
• ἐριστικός (eristikós)
• ἐριδαίνω (eridaínō)
• δύσερις (dúseris)

Usage notes

LSJ records a separate ἔρις (B), according to Hesychius an Attic form of ἶρις (îris, “rainbow”).^[5][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)