ὑγιεινός

Forms

ὑγῐεινός (hugieinós) m (feminine ὑγῐεινή, neuter ὑγῐεινόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ὑγίεια (hugíeia, “health”) + -ινός (-inós).^[1] Babiniotis derives it instead from the s-stem of ὑγιής (hugiḗs, “healthy”) with the suffix -νός (-nós), like ὀρεινός (oreinós) and ἀλγεινός (algeinós), and Beekes lists both words among the derivatives of the adjective.^[2][3]

The adjective is an old s-stem compound meaning “living”; it was traditionally read as “living well”, but Beekes prefers Weiss's Proto-Indo-European *h₂iu-gʷih₃-es- (“having eternal life”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Hippocratic Aphorisms use its comparative and superlative for what is good for the health.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose it meant wholesome, of food, water and places: Xenophon speaks of healthy regions and Isocrates of the most wholesome foods.^[4][5] Plato and Aristotle also use it of persons and bodies in good health, and the neuter as a noun for health as a condition or a subject of study.^[5][4]

In medicine it described what relates to health: Galen speaks of the art and the study of health, and Erasistratus used it of a physician devoted to keeping people healthy rather than curing them.^[4] The phrase for “the healthful art” lies behind French hygiène, from which English took hygiene in the 1670s, and Late Latin had borrowed it as Latin hygiēna.^[6][1]

Modern Greek υγιεινός (ygieinós) is a learned word; its feminine used as a noun, “hygiene”, owes that sense to French.^[7][2]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Aphorisms use it of what is good for health.^[4][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates and Xenophon use it of wholesome food and healthy places.^[4][5][8]
• 4th century BC – Plato uses it of persons and bodies in good health.^[4][5][8]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for the art of health.^[4][8]
• 1670s – English borrows hygiene through French.^[6]
• Modern Greek – The learned υγιεινός (ygieinós) means healthy, wholesome.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Good for the health, wholesome, salubrious (of food, water, places).^[4][5]
2. Relating to health; in the neuter as a noun, health as a condition or subject of study.^[4][5]
3. (of persons, bodies) Healthy, sound.^[4][5]
4. (medicine) Of a physician: devoted to preserving health, a hygienist.^[4]

Related words

• ὑγιής (hugiḗs)
• ὑγίεια (hugíeia)
• English hygiene

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge