ἥβη

Forms

ἥβη (hḗbē) f (genitive ἥβης); first declension^[1] Doric ἥβα, Aeolic ἄβα (Alcaeus).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *yēgʷeh₂ (“power, youthful strength”).^[1][4] On that reconstruction it matches Lithuanian jėgà “power, strength” and Latvian jȩ̃ga “power, sense” exactly.^[3][4] Beekes doubts the link with Baltic, because Greek also has forms with initial ⟨ἀ-⟩, beside Doric and Aeolic forms with ⟨ἡ-⟩ and ⟨ει-⟩.^[4] The Italic name Latin Iegius is too obscure to be compared.^[4][3] Beekes rejects a connection with ἁβρός (habrós), which Frisk had raised as a question.^[4][3]

Ancient writers derived the word from ἥδομαι (hḗdomai, “to enjoy”), because youth delights us, or from ἅπτω (háptō, “to kindle”), because the young are fiery.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, for the prime of youth, early manhood, and for the strength that belongs to it.^[6][2] In the phrase ἥβης μέτρον “the measure of youth” it means the age of full growth.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer it is used of an older man's bodily vigour, and Hesiod applies it to oxen in their prime.^[6][2] From the 5th century BC it also meant the body of young men of a city, especially as sent to war, in Aeschylus,^[2][8] and, concretely, the pubes, in Hippocrates, Aristophanes and Aristotle.^[2][8] Pindar and Euripides used it figuratively for cheerfulness or the full vigour of a feast.^[2][8]

As a legal term it marked the age of puberty, which the lexicographers put at sixteen at Athens (fourteen in other accounts) and at eighteen at Sparta, where soldiers were called up by their years “from ἥβη”.^[2][7] Athenian law also distinguished physical puberty at sixteen from civil majority two years later, from which the ἔφηβος (éphēbos) took its name.^[9] Personified, it is Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera, whom Hesychius calls the wife of Heracles.^[4][10]

Modern Greek ήβη (ívi) is a learned word for puberty, the age when the capacity to reproduce begins.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the prime of youth and its vigour.^[6][13]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of oxen in their prime.^[2][14]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it figuratively for cheerfulness and youthful spirit.^[2][14]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the young men of a people, and Hippocrates and Aristophanes for the pubes.^[2][8][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Thucydides and Xenophon use it for the legal coming of age.^[8][7][14]
• Modern Greek – The learned word ήβη means puberty.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Youth, the prime of life; youthful vigour and freshness.^[2][8]
2. Coming of age, puberty; as a legal term, the age at which a citizen came of age.^[8][2]
3. (collective) The young men of a people or city, especially as soldiers.^[8][2]
4. The pubes, and in Aristophanes the male genitals.^[2][8]
5. (figurative) Cheer, high spirits; the full vigour of a feast.^[2][8]
6. (capitalised) Hebe, the goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus and Hera.^[4][10]

Word family

• ἔφηβος (éphēbos)
• ἡβάω (hēbáō)

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
14. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge