ἕρπης

Forms

ἕρπης (hérpēs) m (genitive ἕρπητος); third declension^[1] Philo has a variant ἑρπήν (herpḗn), formed after nouns such as λειχήν (leikhḗn), and the Etymologicum Magnum has ἑρπήνη (herpḗnē).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō, “to creep, crawl”),^[1][4][2] literally “the creeping one”, after the way the eruption spreads over the skin.^[5] The verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *serp- (“to crawl”), the root of Latin serpō (“to creep”).^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Hippocratic Corpus as the name of shingles and similar spreading skin eruptions; the Aphorisms speak of “eating” ones that eat into the flesh.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Frisk defines it as a skin ulcer.^[3] After the Hippocratic writers, Dioscorides uses it, and later medical and veterinary texts and the poems of Psellus keep it for shingles.^[7][8]

Latin borrowed it as herpes,^[9] and English herpes (late 14th century) first meant any inflammatory, spreading skin condition; the separate diseases were not told apart until the early 19th century.^[5] Modern Greek έρπης (érpis), also έρπητας, is a learned word for a viral skin disease with blisters on a red base, as in the name of shingles.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Corpus uses it for shingles and spreading eruptions.^[4][7][11]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Philo has the variant ἑρπήν.^[4][2][11]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it in his Materia medica.^[7][11]
• Late 14th century – English borrows herpes for any spreading skin condition, through Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – The learned έρπης (érpis) names the viral disease herpes.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) Shingles, a spreading eruption of the skin, and eating ἕρπητες are ulcerating ones.^[4][8][3]

Related words

• ἕρπω (hérpō)
• ἑρπετόν (herpetón)
• Latin herpes
• English herpes

Usage notes

LSJ and Chæréphon list a second ἕρπης, the name of an animal, perhaps a snake, found in Pliny and probably in Philumenus.^[4][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge