ῥόδον

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /r̥ó.don/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈro.ðon/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈro.ðon/^[1]

Forms

ῥόδον (rhódon) n (genitive ῥόδου, diminutive ῥοδάριον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *wródon, as Aeolic βρόδον (bródon) shows.^[2][1] It is certainly borrowed from the East, probably, like Old Armenian վարդ (vard, “rose”), from Old Iranian: borrowed from Proto-Iranian *wardah (“flower, rose”).^[2][3][1] Related words include Aramaic wardā (“rose”) and Arabic وردة (warda, “rose”).^[2][1] Rosół lists it among Oriental loans of unknown origin for which a Semitic source is doubtful.^[4]

The Linear B adjective Mycenaean Greek wo-do-we, /wordowen/ “rose-scented”, is an epithet of oil.^[2][4] Latin rosa (“rose”) was probably borrowed from Greek, but the details are unclear.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets have the adjective Mycenaean Greek wo-do-we.^[2] The compound ῥοδοδάκτυλος (rhododáktulos) “rosy-fingered”, Homer's epithet of Dawn, is older than the simple word, which is first found in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (6).^[4][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Theognis, Pindar and Herodotus speak of roses, and Theophrastus describes the red rose, the hundred-petalled rose and the wild rose.^[5] It stood for beauty, fragrance and luxury, and Sappho calls poetry “the roses of Pieria”; in Aristophanes “you have spoken roses of me” is ironic.^[6][5] Theocritus and Bion use it for the rosy colour of the cheek or lip.^[6] Sappho has the Aeolic βροδοδάκτυλος (brododáktulos) of the moon.^[2]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – Linear B has wo-do-we, of rose-scented oil.^[2][4]
• Homer – The compound “rosy-fingered” is used of Dawn.^[2][4]
• 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Demeter and Theognis use it.^[5][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions roses.^[5][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes kinds of rose.^[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rose, the flower or the bush.^[5][6]
2. (figurative, plural) Delights; poetry.^[6][5]
3. Rosiness of the cheek or lip.^[6]

Related words

• Latin rosa
• English rose

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge