ephebus

Forms

ephēbus m (genitive ephēbī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “adolescent”).^[2][3][1] The Greek word is made from ἐπί (epí, “on, at”) and ἥβη (hḗbē, “youth, puberty”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence uses it first, in the Andria and the Eunuchus;^[3] the Andria has the phrase excessit ex ephēbīs, “he left the ranks of the youths”, that is, came of age, after the Greek idiom, and Cicero quotes it.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a Greek youth at the age of puberty;^[2] in Athenian law, the OLD notes, a young man between 18 and 26,^[2] while Lewis & Short give 18 to 20.^[3] Cicero, Horace, Ovid and Suetonius use it,^[3] and Statius has the contracted genitive plural ephēbum.^[2][3] Stelten gives "page, youth between 16 and 21" for Church Latin.^[5] The English ephebe comes from the Greek.^[6]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence, of a young man coming of age.^[3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes Terence's phrase.^[3]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius has the genitive plural ephēbum.^[2]
• 1690s – The English ephebe appears.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Greek youth at the age of puberty, adolescent; in Athenian law, a young man between 18 and 26.^[2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A page, a youth.^[5]

Word family

• ephēbicus

Related words

• English ephebe

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com