νεκρός Ancient Greek · revision 15576

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''νεκρός''' (nekrós) ''m'' (feminine νεκρᾱ́, neuter νεκρόν); first/second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed with the suffix [[m|grc|-ρός|tr=-rós]] from the root of [[m|grc|νέκυς|tr=nékūs|t=corpse]], Indo-European [[ine-pro|*neḱ-|t=to perish]]; the /r/-formation has no parallel outside Greek.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Its expected Indo-European shape would have given [[m|grc|*ἀκρός|tr=*akrós]], so it was probably formed within Greek.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The root noun of [[m|grc|νέκες|tr=nékes]] corresponds exactly to [[la|nex|t=violent death]] and [[ae|nas-|tr=nas-|t=distress]], and the /u/-stem of [[m|grc|νέκυς|tr=nékūs]] to [[m|ae|nasu-|tr=nasu-|t=corpse]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Πάπυρος) The root was a verb, as in [[sa|नश्यति|tr=náśyati|t=perishes]].^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer uses it from the ''Iliad'' (4.467) for a corpse, always of people: “you will strip the dead” (6.71).^(GLAUx)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Thucydides uses it of those killed in battle, recovered under truce.^(LSJ 1940) In the plural it was the dead, the inhabitants of the underworld (the ''Odyssey'', Thucydides, the Septuagint, the New Testament).^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Euripides and Antiphon use it for a dying man, and Sophocles and Menander for a living corpse, one as good as dead.^(CGL 2021) In Hellenistic and later Greek it is also an adjective, “dead”, as in Pindar, the New Testament and Plutarch.^(Beekes 2010)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ It is often the first part of compounds, such as [[νεκροδέγμων|tr=nekrodégmōn]] “receiving the dead” (Aeschylus).^(Beekes 2010) Medieval and Modern Greek ''νεκρός'' “dead” continues it.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' uses it for corpses.^(GLAUx)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * Homer – The ''Odyssey'' uses the plural for the dead in the underworld.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+ * 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for the war dead.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it as an adjective.^(CGL 2021)

+ * Modern Greek – ''νεκρός'' means dead.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|corpse]], dead body.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(plural)'' The dead, in the underworld.^(Beekes 2010)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A dying man; one as good as dead.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|dead|alt=Dead]].^(Beekes 2010)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|nex]]

+ * [[en|necro-]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}