Etymologically
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ὀρφανός

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /or.pʰa.nós/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /or.ɸaˈnos/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /or.faˈnos/[1]

Forms

ὀρφᾰνός (orphanós) m (feminine ὀρφᾰνή, neuter ὀρφᾰνόν); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“orphan, bereft”),[1][2] enlarged in Greek with the adjective suffix -ανός: Hesychius' glosses ὀρφοβόται “guardians of orphans” and ὤρφωσεν “made an orphan” point to an older *ὀρφος of the same meaning.[2][3]

This *ὀρφος matches Old Armenian որբ (orb, “orphan”) and Latin orbus (“orphaned, bereft”) exactly.[2][3][1] A derivative of the same word gave the Celtic and Germanic words for “inheritance” and “heir”, such as Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌹 (arbi, “inheritance”) and 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌾𐌰 (arbja, “heir”).[2][3] Following Melchert, Beekes takes the root to be the verb seen in Hittite ḫarp- “to change allegiance, join with”; its derivative came to mean “bereft, orphan” in Greek and Latin, but “inheritance, heir” in Celtic and Germanic.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Odyssey has it once, of girls left orphaned in the house.[5][6] Hesiod speaks of orphaned children.[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it was used, mostly as a noun, for a child who had lost its parents.[6][7] Plato's Laws and Aristotle deal with the care of orphans, and the law code of Gortyn has “orphan-judges”.[6][7][2] It could be used of a young bird, and of a house or a parent left childless.[6][7] Sophocles has a nest “orphaned” of its chicks.[6][7] With a genitive it means bereft of anything: of companions, of knowledge, and in Pindar even “free of” insolence.[6] Plato calls an argument whose author is dead an orphan.[7]

The Septuagint always uses it for the Hebrew word for “orphan”.[8] In the New Testament orphans are named with widows as those most in need of protection, and figuratively it is one left without anyone to support him.[9][10]

Medieval vernacular Greek also had the form αρφανός, and used the word for an orphan, a parent bereft of a child and a person deserted.[11] Modern Greek ορφανός (orfanós) means orphaned and, figuratively, bereft of someone dear.[12] English orphan came from it through Late Latin orphanus around 1300.[4]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses it of orphaned girls.[5][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod speaks of orphaned children.[6][13]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for childless.[6][13]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato deals with the care of orphans in the Laws.[6][13]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament names orphans with widows.[9]
  • c. 1300 – English orphan is first recorded.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Orphaned, without parents, and as a noun, an orphan.[6][7]
  2. (with genitive) Bereft of a father or parents.[6][7]
  3. Bereft of children, childless; of a house or nest, left empty.[6][7]
  4. (with genitive) Bereft of anything, without.[6]
  5. (figurative) Neglected; of an argument, whose author is dead.[6][7]
  6. (New Testament) Without anyone to support one.[10]

Word family

  • ὀρφανία (orphanía)
  • ὀρφανίζω (orphanízō)
  • ὀρφανιστής (orphanistḗs)
  • ὀρφανοφύλαξ (orphanophúlax)
  • ὀρφανικός (orphanikós)
  • ὀρφανεύω (orphaneúō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  9. ^ a b 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
  10. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
  11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  12. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge