Etymologically
Log in

ὕμνος

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 29 October 2026 at 09:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /hým.nos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈym.nos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈym.nos/[1]

Forms

ῠ̔́μνος (húmnos) m (genitive ῠ̔́μνου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It has no certain etymology.[2][1] Beekes discusses several proposals:[2]

  • a derivative of ὑμήν (humḗn, “membrane”), from Proto-Indo-European *syuH-mn̥ (“tie, seam”), as a “construction” of songs, which ancient phrases such as Bacchylides' “having woven a hymn” would support; a derivation from the root of ὑφαίνω (hupháinō, “to weave”) is difficult phonetically;[2]
  • a connection with the same word in its sense “wedding cry”;[2]
  • a link with Sanskrit सामन् (sā́man, “song of praise”) and Hittite išḫamai- (“song”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂em-, which Vine reshapes phonetically;[2][1]
  • a Mediterranean or Pre-Greek loanword, as Furnée thought, which the sequence ⟨-μν-⟩ might suggest.[2]

Babiniotis also mentions the connection with the wedding song.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs once in Homer, in the Odyssey, for the lay of a singer: Odysseus asks Demodocus for the song of the Wooden Horse.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

From Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns on, it is a song or poem of praise, usually for gods or heroes, and Pindar uses it often of his victory odes.[5][7] Plato defines hymns as songs addressed to the gods, set against the praise of good men.[5] In tragedy it can also be a dirge, and in lyric and Plato a song of love;[7] Aristophanes even has the songs of birds and frogs.[7] In the Septuagint, the New Testament and Christian writers it is a religious song of praise to God.[8]

Late Latin hymnus was borrowed from it, and Latin gave Old French ymne and English hymn.[9][10] Modern Greek ύμνος (ímnos) is a learned word for a hymn and for a national anthem.[11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses it once, for Demodocus' lay.[4][6]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod wins a tripod with a song, ὕμνῳ.[5][6][12]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it often of his own odes.[5][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato defines hymns as songs to the gods.[5][12]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for Christian songs of praise.[8]
  • About 1000 – English has hymn from Latin, through Old English ymen and Old French ymne.[10]
  • Modern Greek – ύμνος is a hymn or a national anthem.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A song or lay, especially one of praise or commemoration; a hymn or ode for gods, heroes or victors.[5][7]
  2. A choral song; a wedding song.[7]
  3. A song of mourning, a dirge.[7]
  4. A love song.[7]
  5. (Koine) A religious song of praise to God.[8]

Word family

  • ὑμνέω (humnéō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  4. ^ a b 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 Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b c 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
  9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge