Etymologically
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ῥόδον

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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]

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