βίος Ancient Greek · revision 15427

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Odyssey|origins=ine-pro *gʷeyh₃-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈvi.os/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''βῐ́ος''' (bíos) ''m'' (genitive βῐ́ου); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ine-pro|*gʷeyh₃-|t=to live]], the Indo-European root for “live”.^(Wiktionary)^(NIL 2008)^(Frisk 1960) The exact formation is disputed.^(Wiktionary)^(NIL 2008)^(Frisk 1960) Wiktionary gives either Proto-Hellenic [[m|grk-pro|*gʷīwos]], from [[m|ine-pro|*gʷih₃wós|t=alive]], or a shortened form of [[m|grc|βίοτος|tr=bíotos]];^(Wiktionary) the NIL sets up a thematic noun [[m|ine-pro|*gʷih₃-o-]], with a question mark;^(NIL 2008) Frisk treats it as an old two-syllable root noun of the same type as [[m|grc|βίοτος|tr=bíotos]] and [[m|grc|βιοτή|tr=biotḗ]], from the root of the aorist [[m|grc|ἐβίων|tr=ebíōn|t=I lived]].^(Frisk 1960) Within Greek it belongs with [[m|grc|ζάω|tr=zā́ō|t=to live]], [[m|grc|ζωός|tr=zōós|t=alive]] and [[m|grc|ὑγιής|tr=hugiḗs|t=healthy]].^(Frisk 1960)^(Etygram)

+

+ Cognate with [[sa|जीवति|tr=jīvati|t=lives]], [[la|vīvō|t=to live]], [[m|la|vīvus|t=alive]], [[cu|жити|tr=žiti|t=to live]] and [[xcl|կեամ|tr=keam|t=I live]].^(Wiktionary)^(Pokorny 1959)

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+ Ancient writers explained it otherwise: a saying attributed to Menander derives it from [[m|grc|βία|tr=bíā|t=force]], because life is earned by strength, and the Etymologicum Genuinum adds a derivation from a verb “to go”, life being a journey.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer has it only three times, all in the ''Odyssey'', for a person's course or manner of life: “you live a good life” (''Odyssey'' 15.491).^(Pape 1914)^(Cunliffe 1924) For the means of living Homer uses [[βίοτος|tr=bíotos]]; βίος in that sense first appears in Hesiod's ''Works and Days'', of the year's store of grain.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Classical Greek kept βίος for life as it is lived (its length, its circumstances, its kind) and left bare physical existence to [[ζωή|tr=zōḗ]]: the grammarian Ammonius says βίος is said only of rational beings, and quotes Aristotle's definition of it as “rational life”.^(Ammonius)^(LSJ 1940) The distinction is not strict, since Xenophon and Aristotle speak of the βίος of spiders and plants,^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) and the tragic poets use it for life itself, as in “breathing out one's βίος”.^(LSJ 1940)

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+ From Hesiod on it also means livelihood, property: Herodotus and Thucydides speak of making one's living from something.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) Plutarch's ''Lives'' gave it the sense of a written life, a biography,^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) and later writers such as Sextus Empiricus use it for the world and ordinary people, as opposed to philosophers.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) In the New Testament it means the present life with its affairs and, in Mark and Luke, a person's whole means of subsistence.^(BDAG 2000)^(Thayer 1889)

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+ Medieval Greek used it both for human life and for possessions and wealth.^(Kriaras) In Modern Greek ''βίος'' “life” is a learned word, while the popular neuter ''βιος'' “property, wealth” continues the medieval neuter.^(Triantafyllidis 1998) The usual Modern Greek word for life is [[el|ζωή|tr=zoí]].^(Etygram) English ''bio-'' comes from it.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Odyssey'' uses it three times for a person's way of life.^(Pape 1914)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for livelihood, the store of food.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a lifetime and for a living.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle defines it as rational life, as Ammonius reports.^(Ammonius)^(DGE)

+ * 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a biography.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the present life and for a person's means of living.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Medieval – Vernacular Greek uses it for life and for wealth.^(Kriaras)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|life|alt=Life]] as lived: the course or manner of a person's life, a way of life.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A [[m|en|lifetime]], the length of a life.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # [[m|en|livelihood|alt=Livelihood]], means of living; property, [[m|en|wealth]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Life itself, the life breathed out at death.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A written life, a [[m|en|biography]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(late)'' The world; people at large, as opposed to philosophers.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|vīvus]]

+ * [[en|bio-]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The near-homograph [[βιός|tr=biós]], with the accent on the last syllable, is the Homeric word for a bow;^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) Heraclitus played on the two: “the bow's name is life, its work death”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE) The proverbial “life under Cronus” was the Golden Age.^(LSJ 1940)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}