ἦχος

Forms

ἦχος (êkhos) m (genitive ἤχου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a later masculine noun from Ancient Greek ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound, noise”),^[1][2] made like κόμπος (kómpos) and τάραχος (tárakhos).^[3] That noun comes from an older ⟨*ϝᾱχᾱ́⟩ and belongs with the reduplicated present ἰάχω (iákhō, “to cry out”).^[3][4] There are no exact parallels outside Greek; the closest are Latin vāgiō (“to wail”) and words with initial /sw/ such as Lithuanian svagiù (“to sound”) and Old English swōgan (“to sound”).^[3][4]

Ancient writers derived it from χέω (khéō, “to pour”), the voice being “poured” into the air, or from αὔω (aúō, “to dry”), because dry things resound.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Hippocratic writings, for a ringing in the ears.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The masculine noun spread beside ἠχή (ēkhḗ): Aristotle uses it for sound and for an echo, and the Hellenistic poets for the chirping of cicalas and the sound of a spring or a flute.^[2] Grammarians called the rough and smooth breathings ἦχοι, and Dioscorides uses it of the voice.^[2] A neuter ἦχος appears in the Septuagint and perhaps in Luke's “roar of the sea”.^[2][8] In the New Testament it is also a report that spreads about someone.^[8]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for sound, a voice and noise.^[9] Modern Greek ήχος (íchos) is sound in general and in physics, recorded sound, and each of the eight modes in which church melodies are sung.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for ringing in the ears.^[2][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for sound and echo.^[2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it, and Theophrastus uses it for ringing in the ears.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for a sound from heaven and for a report.^[8]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for sound and noise.^[9]
• Modern Greek – ήχος (íchos) means sound and a mode of church music.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sound, noise; the sound of a voice or an instrument.^[2][8]
2. (medicine) A ringing in the ears.^[2]
3. An echo.^[2]
4. (grammar) A breathing, rough or smooth.^[2]
5. The voice.^[2]
6. (New Testament) A report that spreads.^[8]

Related words

• ἠχή (ēkhḗ)
• ἠχώ (ēkhṓ)
• ἠχέω (ēkhéō)
• 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b 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
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki