εἶδος Ancient Greek · revision 15422

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *weyd-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈi.ðos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈi.ðos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''εἶδος''' (eîdos) ''n'' (genitive εἴδους or εἴδεος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|grk-pro|*wéidos]], [[inh|ine-pro|*wéydos|t=seeing, image]], from [[m|ine-pro|*weyd-|t=to see]].^(Wiktionary) It is the verbal noun belonging to [[m|grc|ἰδεῖν|tr=ideîn|t=to see]], the old thematic aorist of this root, whose perfect is [[m|grc|οἶδα|tr=oîda|t=I know]];^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Alcman's form [[m|grc|ϝεῖδος|tr=weîdos]] keeps the initial /w/.^(DGE)

+

+ It is formally identical with [[sa|वेदस्|tr=védas|t=property, acquisition]], which kept the sense “find” of the Sanskrit aorist.^(Frisk 1960) Closer in meaning are [[cu|видъ|tr=vidŭ|t=look, form]], [[lt|véidas|t=face]] and [[goh|wīsa|t=manner]].^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer uses it for a person's appearance or figure, usually implying good looks, as in “best in looks” (''Iliad'' 2.715), and once for a dog's looks (''Odyssey'' 17.308).^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Herodotus uses it for beauty of person, and the Hippocratic writers for physique and constitution.^(LSJ 1940) From there it came to mean form, kind and nature, a state of things, and a type or class.^(LSJ 1940) Plato uses it for a logical species and, like [[ἰδέα|tr=idéā]], for the Forms of his philosophy;^(LSJ 1940) Aristotle sets it as form against matter, and as species under the genus.^(LSJ 1940) Frisk refers to Brommer's study of how Plato uses εἶδος and ἰδέα.^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ In the New Testament it is outward form: the Spirit descending “in bodily form” like a dove (Luke 3:22).^(BDAG 2000) Later Greek used the plural for goods of different kinds and for payments in kind.^(LSJ 1940) Its diminutive [[εἰδύλλιον|tr=eidúllion]] is the source of ''idyll''.^(Frisk 1960) Modern Greek ''είδος'' “kind, species” is a learned borrowing of it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' use it for a person's looks.^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for beauty;^(LSJ 1940) Hippocratic writers for constitution.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a logical species and for the Forms.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for form as opposed to matter.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Luke uses it for the bodily form of the Spirit.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 2nd–3rd century AD – Papyri use it for goods.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|appearance|alt=Appearance]], [[m|en|form]], figure; good looks.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # ''(medicine)'' [[m|en|physique|alt=Physique]], constitution.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Shape, pattern.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Kind, nature, sort; a state of things; a course of action.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A class;^(LSJ 1940) ''(logic)'' a [[m|en|species]].^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' A Platonic Form;^(LSJ 1940) ''(Aristotle)'' form as opposed to matter.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(late)'' Goods; payments in kind.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[εἰδητικός|tr=eidētikós]]

+ * [[εἴδωλον|tr=eídōlon]]

+ * [[εἰδάλιμος|tr=eidálimos]]

+ * [[εἰδότης|tr=eidótēs]]

+ * [[εἰδύλλιον|tr=eidúllion]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|eidos]]

+ * [[en|idyll]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate, rare noun εἶδος “heat” occurs in Empedocles and Callimachus and is glossed by Hesychius; the DGE connects it with [[ἱδρώς|tr=hīdrṓs]] “sweat”.^(DGE)^(Hesychius)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}