ἰός

ἰός¹ arrow

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /iː.ós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /iˈos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /iˈos/^[1]

Forms

ῑ̓ός (īós) m (genitive ῑ̓οῦ); second declension^[1] Homer once has a neuter plural ἰά (iá).^[2][3]

Etymology

The arrow is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ihwós,^[1] a thematized form of Proto-Indo-European *(H)isu- (“arrow”).^[4][1][3] Cognate with Sanskrit इषु (íṣu) and Avestan išu, both meaning “arrow”.^[4][1][3] Meier-Brügger takes the Homeric plural as the neuter plural of an older Greek *ihu, from which the singular was later thematized.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

From the first book of the Iliad on it is an arrow: ἰὸν ἕηκε, “he let fly an arrow”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of epic and poetic language.^[3] Aeschylus and Sophocles still use it.^[2] Its compound ἰοδόκος (iodókos) is the quiver.^[6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for arrows.^[2][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it in the Persians.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it in the Trachiniae.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An arrow.^[2][4]

Word family

• ἰοδόκος (iodókos)

ἰός² poison

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /iː.ós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /iˈos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /iˈos/^[1]

Forms

ῑ̓ός (īós) m (genitive ῑ̓οῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The poison is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *wihós,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”), the old Indo-European word for poison.^[4][1][3] Cognate with Sanskrit विष (viṣá), Latin vīrus, Tocharian A wäs, Tocharian B wase and Middle Irish fí.^[4][1] The Tocharian and Sanskrit forms point to a short /i/, so Beekes takes the long vowel of Latin, Irish and Greek as secondary.^[4]

Many languages replaced the old word with euphemisms, as Greek did with φάρμακον (phármakon) and Latin with venēnum.^[4][8][3] Chantraine and Frisk identify it with the word for rust (homograph 3), and LSJ thinks that word perhaps identical.^[8][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pindar has it first, of the “blameless venom of bees”, the honey on which snakes fed the infant Iamos.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is the venom of snakes, in Aeschylus' Eumenides, Sophocles' Trachiniae and Euripides' Ion, and Aeschylus uses it figuratively of envy.^[2] Later medical writers use it of the venom of a mad dog.^[2] In the New Testament it is the venom of asps in the Letter to the Romans, quoting a Psalm, and it is used figuratively in the Letter of James.^[9]

Modern Greek ιός (iós) is a learned revival meaning a virus, modelled on the international word that comes from Latin vīrus (“poison”).^[10][11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of the “venom of bees”, honey.^[2][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of snake venom and figuratively of envy.^[2][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Rufus uses it of the venom of a mad dog.^[2][7]
• Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek ιός (iós) means a virus.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Poison, venom, especially of snakes.^[2][9]
2. (figurative) Venom, as of envy.^[2][9]

ἰός³ rust

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /iː.ós/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /iˈos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /iˈos/^[1]

Forms

ῑ̓ός (īós) m (genitive ῑ̓οῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Rust is probably the same word as the poison (homograph 2), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wisós, specialised for the corrosion of metals.^[8][3][4] Frisk points to the varied meanings of the Indo-European word, Latin vīrus also meaning slime and juice, and suggests that the two senses split in the language of different trades.^[3] He adds that the word for rust, unlike the poison, was used in prose from early on, which points to a stylistic difference.^[3] Beekes accepts the identification as possible but marks the origin as unknown, and Wiktionary calls it uncertain.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first certain in Theognis, in the 6th century BC, of rust on metal, and a fragment of Sappho that may have it is doubtful.^[2][4][7]

Semantic evolution

Plato, in the Republic and the Timaeus, and Theocritus use it of rust.^[2] Hippocratic writers, Dioscorides and Galen name verdigris “rust of copper”, and Dioscorides names “rust of iron”.^[2] An inscription from Chios of the 4th century BC requires a bronze statue to be kept clean of patina.^[2][4] Derivatives are ἰώδης (iṓdēs) “rust-coloured”, ἰόομαι (ióomai) “to rust” in Aristotle and Theophrastus, and the late ἴωσις (íōsis), the refining of gold by oxidizing its impurities.^[8] In the Letter of James it is the corrosion of hoarded gold and silver.^[9]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of rust.^[2][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of the rust of iron.^[2][7]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Chios uses it of the patina on a bronze statue.^[2][4]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides names the rust of copper and of iron.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Rust on iron, verdigris on copper and bronze.^[2][9]
2. Patina on bronze statues.^[2]

Word family

• ἰώδης (iṓdēs)