ὄσσε

Forms

ὄσσε (ósse) n pl or n du (genitive ὄσσων); irregular declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an inherited dual, inherited from Proto-Hellenic *okʷi̯e,^[2] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ókʷih₁ (“the two eyes”), the dual of the root noun for “eye” from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“to see”).^[2][1] The final ⟨-ε⟩ was added by analogy with other duals.^[3] The /kʷ/ followed by /j/ gave Greek ⟨σσ⟩.^[2][3] It matches the Old Church Slavonic dual for “the two eyes” and Old Armenian աչք (ačʻkʻ, “eyes”) exactly.^[2][3] Other cognates are Latin oculus, Sanskrit अक्षि (ákṣi), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌲𐍉 (augō) and Proto-Slavic *oko.^[1] Within Greek it belongs with ὄμμα (ómma), ὄπωπα (ópōpa), ὄσσομαι (óssomai) and ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós).^[2][3]

Ancient grammarians had their own explanation: Orion derived it from the “sending forth” (ἕσις (hésis)) of sight.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it often for the two eyes of a person, a god or a lion; in the first book of the Iliad a man's eyes are “like fire”.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Homer treated it freely: he used plural adjectives with it, and sometimes a verb in the singular.^[6] From Hesiod on, poets built plural case forms such as the genitive ὄσσων (óssōn) and the dative ὄσσοισι (óssoisi) on it.^[6][8] It remained a word of poetry, used by Sappho, Pindar, the tragedians and Hellenistic poets, and never entered prose.^[8][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the dual for a person's or an animal's eyes.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony has the new genitive plural ὄσσων (óssōn).^[6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho uses it.^[8]
• 5th century BC – The tragedians keep it as a poetic word.^[8][6]
• 3rd century BC – Hellenistic poets still use it.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The two eyes, of gods, people or wild animals.^[6][8][5]

Related words

• ὄμμα (ómma)
• ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós)
• Latin oculus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press