ὅρκος

Forms

ὅρκος (hórkos) m (genitive ὅρκου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is obscure.^[2] In form it looks like an o-grade noun beside ἕρκος (hérkos, “fence, enclosure”), as τοῖχος (toîkhos) stands beside τεῖχος (teîkhos), and the two were already linked in antiquity by Eustathius and the Etymologicum Magnum.^[3][2][4] On that view, which Frisk accepts, an oath was properly the bounds one sets on oneself, a restriction or tie, and Hesychius' gloss ⟨ὅρκοι⟩ “bonds of a seal” would show that older sense.^[5][4] Wiktionary likewise gives the traditional derivation from Proto-Indo-European *serḱ- (“to mend, fence”), the root of the word for fence.^[1] Luther took the oath for a magical power that fences in the one who swears, and Bollack and Hiersche identified the oath with the Styx, the world-encircling water by which the gods swear.^[4][2]

Benveniste rejected all of these: nothing suggests that an oath was an enclosure, and he took ὅρκος for the sacred object that one grasps when swearing, giving no etymology.^[4][2] Leumann, thinking of the staff by which Achilles swears in the Iliad, connected it with a supposed Latin *sorcus behind Latin surculus (“twig, shoot”), so that ὄμνυμι (ómnumi, “to swear”) would first have meant “to grasp” the staff.^[4][1] Chantraine notes that surculus is usually explained quite differently.^[4][2][1] Babiniotis prefers a pre-form with initial /sw/, which would link it with the Germanic verb for swearing (German schwören, swear), and thinks the connection with the word for fence less likely.^[6]

Ancient grammarians proposed other sources: Herodian derived it from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”), because those who swear set themselves a limit, and the Homeric Epimerismi add ἀρκέω (arkéō, “to ward off”) and εἴργω (eírgō, “to keep off”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is first the thing by which one swears, above all the water of the Styx, the gods' great oath, and the sceptre on which Achilles swears; from Homer on it is also the oath itself, with verbs such as ὄμνυμι (ómnumi) “to swear”.^[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In Archilochus salt and table, the pledges of guest-friendship, are the “great oath” that a false friend has broken, and in Pindar Zeus is the oath of mortals.^[8][9] Hesiod makes Horkos a god, a son of Eris who punishes perjurers.^[2]

In Classical Greek it is above all the formal, binding oath: sworn by two cities or armies to ratify a treaty, by soldiers to their leader, by magistrates entering office and by jurors and litigants in court.^[9][8] The orators and Herodotus have a full set of phrases for giving, taking and administering oaths.^[8] In the New Testament it is the oath God swore to Abraham and the oaths that Jesus forbids, and the plural is used even of a single oath, as in the story of Herod's oath.^[10]

The word lived on in medieval vernacular Greek and survives unchanged as Modern Greek όρκος (órkos).^[11][12] Its derivative ὁρκίζω (horkízō) “to make swear” continues as Modern Greek ορκίζω (orkízo).^[6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the water of the Styx by which the gods swear and for an oath sworn by men.^[8][9][13]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod personifies Horkos, the god who punishes perjury.^[2][14]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus calls salt and table, the pledges of hospitality, a great oath.^[8][9][14]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of oaths imposed on others and exchanged between peoples.^[8][9][14]
• 4th century BC – The Attic orators use it of the oaths of magistrates, jurors and litigants.^[9][8][14]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament has it of God's oath to Abraham and of oaths in general.^[10]
• Modern Greek – It survives as όρκος, “oath”.^[12][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The thing by which one swears, a sacred witness of an oath: the water of the Styx for the gods, Zeus for mortals.^[8][9]
2. An oath, a solemn promise or statement made with an appeal to a god.^[8][9][10]
3. An oath uttered casually to back up a statement in conversation.^[9]
4. A sworn compact between cities, armies or factions; the oath of office of magistrates and the oath of jurors and litigants.^[9][8]

Word family

• ἔξορκος (éxorkos)
• ἐπίορκος (epíorkos)
• εὐορκέω (euorkéō)
• ὁρκίζω (horkízō)
• ὅρκιον (hórkion)
• ὅρκιος (hórkios)
• ὁρκόω (horkóō)
• ὁρκωτής (horkōtḗs)
• ψευδορκέω (pseudorkéō)

Related words

• ἑρκάνη (herkánē)
• ἕρκος (hérkos)
• ὄμνυμι (ómnumi)

Usage notes

The god Horkos, whom Hesiod makes a son of Eris, is the same word personified.^[2] The plural ὅρκοι often refers to a single oath.^[10]

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 i 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c d 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 Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
14. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge