ἕννυμι

Forms

ἕννῡμῐ (hénnūmi) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress”),^[2][1] through an earlier *ϝέσνυμι (*wésnumi), with the present suffix -νυ-;^[2] Attic -νν- comes from a restored -σν-.^[2][1] The present is identical with Old Armenian զգենում (zgenum, “to put on”).^[2][1] Beside it Indo-Iranian and Hittite have an athematic root present, Sanskrit वस्ते (váste) “clothes himself”, and the Greek perfect forms such as εἷμαι (heîmai) and Herodotus' ἐπίεσται (epíestai) are exactly parallel.^[2]

Some nominal derivatives could also be inherited: ἑανός (heanós) matches Sanskrit वसन (vásana-, “cloth”), and εἷμα (heîma) “garment” matches वस्मन् (vásman-).^[2] Greek lacks the derivative in -t- of Latin vestis.^[2] Beekes rejects a link with induō, because of the different initial laryngeal.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is Homeric and mainly epic.^[3][4] In the Iliad the middle means to put on clothing or armour, and one passage says a man would have “put on a coat of stone”, λάϊνον ἕσσο χιτῶνα, that is, been stoned.^{[3][5][3][5][6]}

Semantic evolution

Homer uses the active for clothing someone in a garment, the middle for putting on clothes or armour, and the perfect for being clad; a god wraps himself in mist or a cloud, and a warrior is “clad in courage”.^[3][5] After Homer the simple verb is rare outside poetry, and Attic always uses the compound ἀμφιέννυμι (amphiénnumi).^[2][4] Its derivatives give the usual words for clothing: εἷμα (heîma), its diminutive ἱμάτιον (himátion), and ἐσθής (esthḗs).^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for clothing someone and for putting on clothes or armour.^[3][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses the middle of wrapping oneself in mist.^[3][7][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus has the compound perfect ἐπίεσται.^[2][7]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses the perfect for being clad in garments.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To clothe someone in a garment.^[3][5]
2. (middle) To put on, wear clothes or armour; of a god, to wrap oneself in mist.^[3][5]
3. (middle, perfect) To be clad in garments, armour, a cloud or, figuratively, courage.^[3][5]
4. (passive) Of weapons, to be fitted with bronze.^[3]

Word family

• ἀμφιέννυμι (amphiénnumi)
• εἷμα (heîma)
• ἐσθής (esthḗs)
• ἔσθος (ésthos)

Related words

• ἑανός (heanós)
• ἱμάτιον (himátion)
• Latin vestis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge