ἡρωϊκός

Forms

ἡρωῐ̈κός (hērōïkós) m (feminine ἡρωῐ̈κή, neuter ἡρωῐ̈κόν); first/second declension^[1] Also written ἡρωικός, and ἡροϊκός.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Plato's Cratylus, which speaks of the race of heroes.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Plato's Laws already uses it of the “heroic” verse, the dactylic hexameter of epic, and Aristotle's Poetics of the heroic metre.^[3][2] Aristotle also speaks of the heroic times and of a heroic, more than human excellence.^[3][2] In Demosthenes' Funeral Speech the fallen are raised to the heroic rank: LSJ takes the phrase as “brought into an epic poem”, Pape as “numbered among the heroes”.^[3][6]

Polybius uses it of honours like those paid to heroes in cult, Diodorus has the adverb for dying like a hero, and Philodemus speaks of bodies of heroic size.^[2][3] Plutarch uses it of men heroic in nature or bearing, and of a statue set up to a hero, and Lucian of thinking heroic thoughts.^[2][7][3] The word is commonest in the 1st century BC.^[5]

Latin borrowed it as heroicus.^[8][1] Modern Greek ηρωικός (iroikós) is a learned revival: it is used of the heroes and times of antiquity, of epic verse, of brave, self-sacrificing deeds, and figuratively of the pioneering first age of an art or technique.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of the race of heroes and of heroic verse.^{[3][4][5][11]}
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of heroic times, heroic excellence and the heroic metre.^[3][2][11]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it in his Funeral Speech of the rank of heroes.^[3][6][11]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of honours paid as to heroes.^[2][11]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus uses the adverb ἡρωϊκῶς of dying like a hero.^[3][6][11]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of a heroic nature and bearing.^[2][11]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of thinking heroic thoughts.^[3][4][11]
• Modern Greek – The learned ηρωικός (iroikós) means heroic.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the heroes of myth and legend: their race, times, names and sufferings.^[3][2]
2. Of verse, heroic, epic, in dactylic hexameters; neuter plural, heroic verse.^[3][2][4]
3. Like a hero, heroic in nature, bearing or virtue; adverb ἡρωϊκῶς, like a hero.^[2][3][6]
4. Befitting a hero as an object of cult: of honours and sacrifices, and of a statue set up to a hero.^[2][7]

Related words

• ἥρως (hḗrōs)
• Latin heroicus

Usage notes

Ammonius' book of synonyms calls the χλαῖνα, a woollen cloak, a garment of the heroic age.^[3]

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 l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
7. ^ a b Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
11. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge