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ὅς

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word ὅς

ὅς1 who, which

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
700s BC Homer, Iliad
Inherited from
Proto-Hellenic *hós
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *Hyós

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /hós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈos/[1]

Forms

ὅς (hós) (feminine ἥ, neuter ὅ)[1]

Etymology

The relative pronoun is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hós,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *Hyós (“who, which”).[1][2] Cognate with Sanskrit यद् (yád), Avestan yō and Phrygian ιος (ios).[2][1] Old too is the Cretan ὅτερος (hóteros, “which of the two”), which matches यतर (yatará-).[2] Beekes notes that the pronoun was originally demonstrative rather than relative, a use that Homer still has.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, both as a demonstrative, “he, this”, and as a relative, “who, which”.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The demonstrative use lived on in Attic prose in set phrases: καὶ ὅς “and he” at the start of a clause, in Herodotus, Plato and Xenophon, and ἦ δ' ὅς “said he”.[5] As a relative it formed the compounds ὅστις (hóstis) and ὅσπερ (hósper), and with ἄν (epic κε) it meant “whoever”.[5] In Attic the neuter ὅ could also mean “for which reason”.[5]

It remained the relative pronoun of the New Testament.[6] Modern Greek ος (os) survives only as a learned word.[7]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it as a demonstrative and as a relative pronoun.[3][5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses καὶ ὅς for “and he”.[5][8]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use the same phrase, and ἦ δ' ὅς for “said he”.[5][8]
  • Modern Greek – ος (os) survives as a learned relative pronoun.[7]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (relative) who, which, that.[4][5][6]
  2. (epic, demonstrative) This, that; he, she, it.[3][5]
  3. (Attic, in phrases) He, as in καὶ ὅς “and he” and ἦ δ' ὅς “said he”.[5]
  4. (with ἄν, epic κε) Whoever.[5]

Word family

  • ὅστις (hóstis)
  • ὅσπερ (hósper)
  • ὅσος (hósos)
  • οἷος (hoîos)
  • ὅτε (hóte)
  • ὡς (hōs)
  • ὅτερος (hóteros)

ὅς2 his own

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
700s BC Homer, Iliad
Inherited from
Proto-Indo-European *swós
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *swós

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /hós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈos/[1]

Forms

ὅς (hós) (feminine ἥ, neuter ὅν)[1] Epic also ἑός (heós), and Cretan (the Gortyn law code) and Aeolic ϝός.[5][2]

Etymology

The possessive is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swós (“one's own”),[1][2] an adjective made from the reflexive pronoun *swé, which also gave ἕ (hé, “him, himself”).[2][1] Its Cretan and Aeolic form with a digamma keeps the original initial /w/.[2][5]

Cognate with Sanskrit स्व (svá) and Latin suus.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning “his, her, its”, and sometimes in Homer, though the ancient critic Aristarchus denied it, “my” or “your”.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of poetry and Ionic prose: Hesiod, the lyric poets, Herodotus, tragedy, and in the Hellenistic period Callimachus and Theocritus.[4] Apollonius Rhodius uses it also for the first person, “my”.[5][4]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “his, her”.[4][5]
  • 3rd century BC – Apollonius Rhodius uses it for “my”.[5][4]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. His, her, its (own); in later poetry also their.[4][5]
  2. (poetic) My, our; your.[4][5]

Usage notes

The Etymologicum Magnum and Zonaras describe it as the “postpositive article”, and note that it can also be a possessive pronoun of the third person and a demonstrative equal to οὗτος (hoûtos).[9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  9. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Ὅς.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%E1%BD%85%CF%82. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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