ὀδύνη

Forms

ὀδύνη (odúnē) f (genitive ὀδύνης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *Hed-ún-eh₂ (“pain”), a form in ⟨-ᾱ⟩ built on a verbal noun in *-ur, *-un-.^[1][2] Aeolic ἐδύνας (edúnas), accusative plural, is cited only by Gregory of Corinth in the 12th century, and Beekes does not rely on it;^[2] Chantraine thinks it may show an old vowel alternation.^[2][3]

The root is disputed.^[2] Frisk derived it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”), pain being “gnawing”, with parallels such as Latin cūrae edācēs “devouring cares” and Lithuanian ėdžiótis “to trouble oneself”.^[2][3] He also compared Old Armenian երկն (erkn, “birth pain”), and Schindler added Old Irish idu (“birth pangs”).^[2][1] Following Kortlandt, Beekes starts instead from *h₃ed- (“to bite, sting”), also in Lithuanian úodas “gnat”, and doubts the Armenian comparison.^[2] ὀδύρομαι (odúromai, “to lament”) has been compared too.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, both for bodily pain, such as that of a wound, and for grief and distress.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

From Homer on it covers physical pain and mental anguish, and Archilochus and Apollonius use it for the pain of love.^[5][4] In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is the grief of the heart, as in Paul's unceasing sorrow for his people.^[7] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word, and Modern Greek οδύνη (odíni) is a learned word for intense mental pain, also used in law for the distress for which damages are paid.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the pain of a wound and for grief.^[4][6]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it for the pain of love.^[5][10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it.^[6][10]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses it for the grief of his heart.^[7]
• Modern Greek – οδύνη is a learned word for intense mental pain.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Bodily pain, as from a wound or illness; a pang.^[5][4]
2. Mental pain: grief, distress, anguish.^[5][7]

Word family

• ἀνώδυνος (anṓdunos)
• ὀδυνάω (odunáō)
• ὀδυνηρός (odunērós)
• ὀδυνήφατος (odunḗphatos)
• ὀδυνοσπάς (odunospás)
• ὀδυνώδης (odunṓdēs)

Related words

• ὀδύρομαι (odúromai)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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
4. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge