ὄφις

Forms

ὄφῐς (óphis) m (genitive ὄφεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ókʷʰis,^[1] probably identical with Sanskrit अहि (áhi) and Avestan aži “snake”, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃égʷʰis (“snake”).^[2][3] Beekes reconstructs an e-grade because the Sanskrit shows no trace of Brugmann's law, while Wiktionary gives *h₁ógʷʰis.^[2][1] The comparison with Old Armenian իժ (iž, “viper”) is old but problematic, since it needs a lengthened grade that cannot be explained, and the first part of the Old High German word for the lizard is doubtful.^[2][3]

The name of the snake was exposed to linguistic taboo and could take varied forms.^[3] Chantraine therefore allows a link with ἔχις (ékhis, “viper”), ἔγχελυς (énkhelus, “eel”) and Latin anguis (“snake”).^[3] Beekes treats the word for eel as unrelated.^[2]

The long first syllable in Iliad 12.208 is a metrical licence, imitated by Hipponax and Antimachus.^[3][2] Eustathius says it was then pronounced ⟨ὄπφις⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is Iliad 12.208, where a gleaming snake carried by an eagle falls among the Trojans.^[4][5] Hesiod uses it of the serpent-monsters of his Theogony, in the same sense as δράκων (drákōn).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is the ordinary word for a serpent, in Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus and Plato, and Aeschylus calls an arrow a “winged snake”.^[4] It also named a snake-shaped bracelet (Menander), the bronze three-headed serpent dedicated at Delphi after Plataea (Herodotus), the constellation Serpens (Aratus), a creeping plant (Hippocratic writings), a fish and the guinea-worm.^[4]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is the snake of the desert story, the brazen serpent lifted up by Moses as a type of Christ, an image of cleverness and, in Revelation, the ancient serpent who is the devil.^[6]

Medieval Greek kept the word, with a plural ὄφεοι.^[7] Today Modern Greek όφις (ófis) is a learned word, and its compounds such as ὀφιοειδής (ophioeidḗs) “snake-like” were taken over from Hellenistic Greek.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a snake carried by an eagle.^[4][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the serpent-monsters of the Theogony.^[4][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus names the three-headed bronze serpent dedicated at Delphi.^[4][10]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the brazen serpent and for the devil.^[6]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned word όφις.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A snake, serpent.^[4][11][6]
2. A snake-shaped bracelet.^[4]
3. (astronomy) The constellation Serpens.^[4]
4. A creeping plant.^[4]
5. A kind of fish; the guinea worm.^[4]
6. (figurative) A dangerous person.^[6]
7. (New Testament) The serpent of myth, the devil.^[6]

Word family

• ὀφίδιον (ophídion)
• ὀφιοειδής (ophioeidḗs)
• ὀφιόθριξ (ophióthrix)

Related words

• ἔχις (ékhis)
• Latin anguis

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 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 e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press