ἠχέω

Forms

ἠχέω (ēkhéō) ^[1] Aeolic and Doric ἀχέω (akhéō), Ionic iterative imperfect ἠχέεσκον.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound, noise”),^[1][4] a verb in -έω that Beekes calls deverbative or denominative.^[4] The noun goes back to a form with initial ⟨ϝ⟩ and long ⟨ᾱ⟩, as the Doric ἀχά (akhá) shows; beside it stand ἠχώ (ēkhṓ, “sound, echo”), ἦχος (êkhos) and the reduplicated present ἰάχω (iákhō, “to cry out”), from the zero grade of the same root.^[4]

Beekes derives the family from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weh₂gʰ- (“to sound”).^[4] The forms have no exact parallels in other languages; the closest are Latin vāgiō (“to wail”), which has a different final consonant, Lithuanian svagėti (“to sound”) and Old English swōgan (“to sound”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Hesiod's Theogony (42), where the peak of Olympus resounds with the song of the Muses.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first uses are of places that echo, mountains and the sea.^[3] From Herodotus on it is said of metal that rings when struck: Herodotus describes the bronze of a shield ringing, and Plato writes that bronze vessels, once struck, ring for a long time.^[2][3] Poets use it of song and lament: Alcaeus and Theocritus of the cicada's chirping, the tragedians of wailing and hymns, and Theocritus, with an object, for striking a cymbal.^[2][3]

In the Septuagint it is said of ears that tingle, and the First Letter to the Corinthians speaks of “sounding brass”; a variant reading in Luke uses it of the roaring sea.^[2][6] A medical writer used it of suffering from noises in the ears.^[2]

In Modern Greek it survives as the learned Modern Greek ηχώ (ichó) “to sound, ring out”.^[7]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony has the head of Olympus resound.^[2][5]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses the Aeolic form for the chirping of the cicada.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of bronze ringing.^[2][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of struck bronze vessels that ring for a long time.^[2][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it transitively, “sound the cymbal!”.^[2][3]
• Modern Greek – The word survives as the learned ηχώ (ichó), “to sound”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of places: to resound, echo.^[3][2]
2. Of metal and instruments: to ring, ring out, sound.^[2][3][6]
3. Of insects and birds: to chirp, sing.^[2][3]
4. Of people: to cry out, wail; with an object, to make a song or lament resound.^[3][2]
5. (transitive) To make something ring, to strike a cymbal.^[3][2]
6. Of the ears: to tingle, and (medicine) to suffer from noises in the ears.^[2]

Word family

• ἠχέτης (ēkhétēs)
• ἠχεῖον (ēkheîon)

Related words

• ἠχή (ēkhḗ)
• ἠχώ (ēkhṓ)
• ἦχος (êkhos)
• ἰάχω (iákhō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b 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
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki