ἥρως

Forms

ἥρως (hḗrōs) m (genitive ἥρωος or ἥρω); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, and refers to the Pre-Greek ending ⟨-ω(ς)⟩.^[2][3] The traditional explanation took it as a stem in ⟨-ωϝ-⟩, formed like πάτρως (pátrōs, “paternal uncle”) and μήτρως (mḗtrōs, “maternal uncle”), with an original sense “protector”, and connected it with Latin servō (“to keep safe”) and Avestan haurvaiti (“protects”).^[4][1] The Mycenaean form Mycenaean Greek ti-ri-se-ro-e, a dative “to the thrice-hero” on a tablet from Pylos, shows no /w/, so that stem cannot be right.^[2][5][1]

Chantraine finds the link with the Latin verb difficult and thinks a connection with the goddess Ἥρα (Hḗrā) plausible; he suggests a root Proto-Indo-European *ser-, a variant of *swer- and *wer-, or else a borrowing.^[5] The lexicon of Zonaras derived it from ἔρα (éra, “earth”), because heroes come from the earth, or from the love of gods for mortal women.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the Mycenaean dative Mycenaean Greek ti-ri-se-ro-e at Pylos.^[5][3] In Homer it is the word for the warriors of the Trojan War, Greek and Trojan alike, and Chantraine notes that it was a term of courtesy for every one of them, whatever his rank.^[7][8][5]

Semantic evolution

In Homer the word could be addressed to a warrior as a title of respect, and was also used of other worthy men, such as a singer.^[8][9] Hesiod made the heroes the fourth of his five ages of men, a race of demigods, and Plato took up the same idea.^[9][8] From Heraclitus, Aeschylus and Pindar on, a hero is also a dead man of semi-divine standing who receives a cult.^[8][9] Herodotus reports that Heracles was given sacrifices as an Olympian god in one sanctuary and offerings as a hero in another.^[9] A passage in the Aristotelian Problems explains that among the ancients only the leaders were heroes, and the common people were men.^[9]

In later Greek it meant simply “the deceased”, and in epitaphs it was used of the dead, women included; θεοῖς ἥρωσι rendered the Latin Dis Manibus.^[9] It was borrowed as Latin heros.^[10] The modern Modern Greek ήρωας (íroas) is a learned continuation of the ancient word; its newer senses, such as a person who faces danger bravely, were taken from French héros.^[11]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – A tablet from Pylos has the dative Mycenaean Greek ti-ri-se-ro-e, “to the thrice-hero”.^[5][3]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the warriors of the Trojan War.^[7][9]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod makes the heroes the fourth age of men (Works and Days 172).^[9][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus distinguishes the cult of Heracles as a god from his cult as a hero (2.44).^[9][12]
• 4th century AD – Alciphron uses it to mean “the deceased”.^[9][12]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned ήρωας.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A warrior, hero, especially of the Trojan War; as a form of address, “noble sir”.^[8][7][9]
2. A hero of myth and legend; one of the race of demigods of Hesiod's fourth age.^[8][9]
3. A demigod, a dead person honoured with a cult.^[8][9]
4. (later Greek) The deceased, in epitaphs.^[9]

Word family

• ἡρῷον (hērōîon)
• ἡρωϊκός (hērōïkós)
• ἡρωΐνη (hērōī̈́nē)
• ἡρώϊος (hērṓïos)
• ἡρωΐς (hērōḯs)

Related words

• Latin heros
• English hero

Usage notes

Hesychius and Photius record the phrase ἥρως ποικίλος, “spotted hero”, said of people marked by flogging or branding, or explained by the snakes, which were spotted and were called heroes.^[13][14][9] Photius also notes the “Hero Physician” (ἥρως ἰατρός) mentioned by Demosthenes in On the Crown.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
14. ^ a b Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)