ὑγιής

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /hy.ɡi.ɛ̌ːs/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /y.ʝiˈis/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /y.ʝiˈis/^[1]

Forms

ῠ̔γῐής (hugiḗs) m or f (neuter ῠ̔γῐές); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an inherited compound with the root of “to live” as its second part, Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃- (as in βίος (bíos) and ζώω (zṓō)), and s-stem inflection.^[2][1] Beekes follows Weiss in taking it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yu-gʷih₃-es- (“having eternal life”), comparing Latin iūgis (“constant”) and Avestan yauuaējī- (“living forever”).^[2][1] The traditional view makes the first part Proto-Indo-European *h₁su- (“well”), as in εὐ- (eu-), with ὑ- instead of eu- from the loss of the laryngeal in the compound, and compares Avestan hujiiāiti- (“a good life”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its one Homeric use, in the Iliad, Hector calls his own speech sound, that is, wholesome or profitable.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From Solon and Simonides on it means healthy of people and animals: in Herodotus doctors “make” someone healthy.^[6][5] It is also said of the mind, of plans and of a city, “sane, sound”, in Herodotus, Thucydides and Plato, who contrasts a healthy city with an inflamed one.^[6][5] Thucydides calls ships and walls sound, in good repair, and the orators and Plato use it of things intact or restored.^[6]

In the New Testament it is said of people and limbs restored to health, of being cured, and of sound teaching.^[7] Its derivatives include ὑγίεια (hugíeia, “health”), also personified as a goddess, and ὑγιεινός (hugieinós, “good for the health”).^[2]

Modern Greek υγιής (ygiís) is learned, meaning healthy, sound.^[8][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad calls a speech sound.^[4][9]
• 7th–6th century BC – Solon uses it of people in good health.^[6][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of making someone healthy, and Thucydides of ships in good repair.^[5][6][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts a healthy city with an inflamed one.^[5][10]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of the healing of the sick.^[7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek υγιής (ygiís) is a learned word for healthy.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Healthy, sound in body, and (New Testament) cured, made well.^[5][6][7]
2. Of the mind, character or plans, sane, sound.^[6][5]
3. Of things, in good condition, undamaged, intact.^[6]
4. Of words or teaching, sound, wholesome.^[4][7]

Related words

• ὑγίεια (hugíeia)
• ὑγιεινός (hugieinós)
• English hygiene

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge