ῥέω

Forms

ῥέω (rhéō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hréwō,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sréweti, from *srew- (“to flow, stream”).^[1][2][3] Cunliffe gives the earlier Greek form as *σρέϝω (*sréwō), and the digamma shows in Cypriot ῥόϝος (rhówos, “stream”).^[4][3] The thematic present matches Sanskrit स्रवति (srávati, “to flow”) exactly.^[3][5]

Several of its nouns have exact matches too: ῥοή (rhoḗ, “flow”) beside Lithuanian sravà (“flow”), and ῥυτός (rhutós, “flowing”) beside स्रुत (srutá, “flowing”).^[3][5] The neuter ῥεῦμα (rheûma) corresponds to nouns in /m/ in Balto-Slavic, Germanic and Celtic, such as sraumuõ (“rapid”), Old Norse straumr (“stream”) and Old Irish sruaim (“stream”).^[3] Babiniotis adds German Strom and English stream.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, of rivers and streams flowing, of streaming blood and sweat, and figuratively of darts raining from the hands; the Odyssey also uses it of hair falling off.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus uses “it flows great” for a river in full stream, and says of a river that it takes its water from melting snow.^[7] The proverb “rivers flow upwards”, in Euripides and Demosthenes, was said of an inversion of the natural order.^[7] Sophocles and Aristotle use it of things melting, and later writers of the perpetual flux of all things.^[7] Its noun ῥεῦμα (rheûma) meant a current, and in medicine a flux or rheumatism, and διάρροια (diárrhoia) was a flowing through, or diarrhoea.^[3]

The Septuagint speaks of a land flowing with milk and honey and uses it of bodily discharges,^[8] and the New Testament uses it of rivers of living water.^[9] The form ρεύω (révo) is found from the 9th century on.^[10] Modern Greek ρέω (réo) is a learned word for “to flow”.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for flowing rivers and streaming blood, and the Odyssey for hair falling off.^[4][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses “it flows great” for a river in full stream.^[7]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses the proverb “rivers flow upwards”.^[7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of a stone melting.^[7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of ripe fruit dropping.^[7]
• 9th century AD – The form ρεύω (révo) appears.^[10]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for “to flow”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To flow, run, stream, gush, of rivers, springs, blood or tears; with a dative, to run with water.^[7][12]
2. Figuratively, of words, missiles and the like, to stream, pour.^[7][4]
3. To fall or drop off, of hair or ripe fruit.^[7][3]
4. Of molten things, to liquefy, run.^[7]
5. To be in perpetual flux and change.^[7]
6. Of persons, to be inclined to something.^[7]

Word family

• ἀπορρέω (aporréō)
• διαρρέω (diarrhéō)
• ἐκρέω (ekréō)
• ἐπιρρέω (epirréō)
• καταρρέω (katarrhéō)
• καλλίρροος (kallírroos)
• εὔροος (eúroos)
• ῥεῖθρον (rheîthron)
• ῥεῦμα (rheûma)
• ῥόος (rhóos)
• ῥοή (rhoḗ)
• ῥύσις (rhúsis)
• ῥυτός (rhutós)
• διάρροια (diárrhoia)

Related words

• ῥέος (rhéos)
• ῥεῦσις (rheûsis)
• ῥοία (rhoíā)
• ῥοϊκός (rhoïkós)
• ῥοώδης (rhoṓdēs)
• English stream

Usage notes

The proverb “rivers flow upwards” was said of anything that reversed the natural or proper order.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press