εἰκών Ancient Greek · revision 15421

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=6th–5th century BC, Aeschylus|origins=grc ἔοικα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /eː.kɔ̌ːn/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /iˈkon/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /iˈkon/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''εἰκών''' (eikṓn) ''f'' (genitive εἰκόνος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed with the suffix -ών from the root of [[m|grc|ἔοικα|tr=éoika|t=to be like]], as an agent noun, with the same vowel as [[m|grc|εἰκώς|tr=eikṓs]] and [[m|grc|εἴκελος|tr=eíkelos|t=like]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Cypriot inscriptions write it with initial ⟨ϝ⟩, and Ionic and poetic Greek also have forms as if from a nominative [[m|grc|εἰκώ|tr=eikṓ]].^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Beekes traces the root to Indo-European [[ine-pro|*weyk-|t=to resemble]].^(Beekes 2010) Wiktionary notes that it has no certain cognates outside Greek, and that the sense “resemble” may be a Greek development of a root meaning “bend, exchange”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in the 6th–5th century BC, in Aeschylus' ''Seven against Thebes'' and an epigram of Simonides.^(GLAUx)^(DGE) Herodotus uses it for statues, such as those of the concubines of Mycerinus in Egypt.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Classical Greek used it for any likeness, a statue, a painting or a woven figure, and for a reflection in a mirror or in water (Euripides, Plato).^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Euripides uses it for a phantom.^(CGL 2021) In argument it was a comparison or analogy, and Aristotle uses it for a simile as opposed to a metaphor.^(CGL 2021) Plato's ''Timaeus'' ends by calling the cosmos a perceptible god, an image of the intelligible.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Ptolemaic documents use it for a written description of a person, and the Rosetta decree calls the king “a living image of Zeus”.^(LSJ 1940) In the Bible humans are made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26), and the New Testament calls Christ the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15); it also uses it for the emperor's head on a coin.^(Spicq 1994)^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ In Byzantine Greek it became the [[m|en|icon]], the painted holy image.^(Wiktionary) Medieval Greek used ''εικόνα'' for a painting and a likeness,^(Kriaras) and the modern form is [[el|εικόνα|tr=eikóna]].^(Wiktionary) Through Late Latin [[m|la|īcōn]] it gave English ''icon'' in the 1570s.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus and Simonides use it.^(GLAUx)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for statues;^(DGE) Euripides for a reflection and a phantom.^(DGE)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a simile.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd century BC – The Rosetta decree calls the king a living image of Zeus.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century AD – The New Testament calls Christ the image of God.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Byzantine – It means a holy icon.^(Wiktionary)

+ * 1570s – English borrows ''icon'' through Late Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|likeness]], image: a [[m|en|statue]], painting or portrait.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # An image in a mirror, a [[m|en|reflection]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|phantom]], semblance; an image in the mind.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A comparison, analogy;^(CGL 2021) ''(rhetoric)'' a [[m|en|simile]].^(CGL 2021)

+ # A living image, representation;^(LSJ 1940) ''(New Testament)'' of Christ as the image of God.^(LSJ 1940)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # ''(papyri)'' A personal description.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(Byzantine)'' An [[m|en|icon]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[εἰκονογράφος|tr=eikonográphos]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[εἰκάζω|tr=eikázō]]

+ * [[εἰκώς|tr=eikṓs]]

+ * [[ἴσκω|tr=ískō]]

+ * [[la|īcōn]]

+ * [[en|icon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}