ἴδιος

Forms

ῐ̓́δῐος (ídios) m (feminine ῐ̓́δῐος or ῐ̓δῐ́ᾱ, neuter ῐ̓́δῐον); first/second declension^[1] Doric ϝίδιος (wídios) (Heraclea), Argive ἵδιος (hídios).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hwédios,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *swéd-yo-s, from the reflexive *swé (“self”).^[1] Beekes, Frisk and Chantraine base this on the Argive ϝhεδιεστας (whediéstas, “private citizen”), which points to an original form with initial wh-, built from the reflexive pronoun ἕ (hé) with an element -δ-, and with ε later raised to ι.^[4][3][2] Doric ϝίδιος (wídios) keeps the initial w-.^[2][3]

Schulze, Brugmann and Fraenkel compared instead a Sanskrit adverb meaning “apart”, in which case the rough breathing of Argive ἵδιος (hídios) would be secondary, after ἑαυτοῦ (heautoû) and ἕκαστος (hékastos).^[3][2] Beekes objects that this Sanskrit element is not found elsewhere in Greek, and Chantraine finds the explanation less probable.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs twice in Homer, both times in the Odyssey and opposed to “public”: a matter is private, not the people's.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it means what belongs to oneself, opposed to what is public or common (κοινός (koinós), δημόσιος (dēmósios)) and to what belongs to another (ἀλλότριος (allótrios)).^[5][6][8] The neuter plural τὰ ἴδια means private interests and one's own property, as in Thucydides.^[5][6] It also means separate or distinct: Herodotus speaks of a people that is separate and not Scythian, and Aristotle of the peculiar voice of the frog.^[5] The dative ἰδίᾳ is used as an adverb, “privately, separately”.^[8] Its derivative ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs) is the private man, as opposed to a magistrate or an expert, and so the layman.^[2][3]

From Aristotle and Polybius on it is used of people personally attached to a ruler, and in the papyri οἱ ἴδιοι are one's relatives and ἡ ἰδία one's home village.^[5][6] Its force weakens until it is often no more than a possessive, as in the New Testament, where the First Letter to the Thessalonians urges its readers to mind their own business.^[9][5][10] Coptic borrowed it as ϩⲓⲇⲓⲟⲥ (hidios).^[11]

The word was still used in the Middle Ages and today.^[12] Modern Greek has two words from it: the learned ίδιος (ídios), pronounced in three syllables, “personal”, used in set phrases and compounds, and the medieval form pronounced in two syllables, which with the article means “the same”.^[13][14][2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey opposes a private matter to a public one.^[5][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of a private man who sets out on a public venture.^[5][15]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a separate people.^[5][15]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses τὰ ἴδια for private interests.^[5][6][15]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the peculiar call of the frog.^[5][15]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius calls a ruler's personal followers his ἴδιοι.^[5][6][15]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament often uses it as a simple possessive, and of the followers of Christ.^[10][6][9]
• 4th century AD – It is recorded as a loanword in Coptic.^[11]
• Modern Greek – ίδιος (ídios) splits into a learned word for “personal” and a popular one for “the same”.^[13][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. One's own, private, personal, as opposed to public or common.^[5][6]
2. One's own, as opposed to another's.^[5][6]
3. Separate, distinct; peculiar, individual.^[5][6]
4. Of people, personally attached to someone (a ruler).^[5][6]
5. (Koine) Used almost as a possessive, his, her, their own.^[5][9][10]

Noun

1. τὰ ἴδια: private interests; one's own property.^[5][6]
2. οἱ ἴδιοι: one's relatives or followers.^[5][6]
3. ἡ ἰδία: one's place of origin.^[5]
4. ἴδιος λόγος: in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, a special account of the treasury.^[5]

Word family

• ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs)
• ἰδιωτικός (idiōtikós)
• ἰδιωτεύω (idiōteúō)
• ἰδιότης (idiótēs)
• ἰδιόομαι (idióomai)
• ἰδίωμα (idíōma)
• ἰδιάζω (idiázō)
• ἰδίως (idíōs)
• ἰδιογενής (idiogenḗs)

Related words

• ἕ (hé)
• English idiot
• English idiom

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Βασικό Λεξικό της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής, Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b c Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge