ἄνθρωπος Ancient Greek · revision 2213

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=Mycenaean (Linear B)|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /án.tʰrɔː.pos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈan.θro.pos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈan.θro.pos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ᾰ̓́νθρωπος''' (ánthrōpos) ''m'' or f (genitive ᾰ̓νθρώπου); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Mycenaean [[m|gmy|a-to-ro-qo]] /anthrōkʷos/.^(Beekes 2010)

+ Cretan ἄντρωπος, Laconian [[ἀνθρωπώ|tr=anthrōpṓ]] “woman”; with the article, Attic ἅνθρωπος, Ionic ὥνθρωπος.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is disputed; none of the many proposals is decisive.^(DGE)^(Frisk 1960) Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], because no Indo-European explanation has been found; he sees in it the Pre-Greek suffix -ωπ- and, following Kuiper, connects it with [[δρώψ|tr=drṓps|t=man]], with a shift of aspiration.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014)^(Wiktionary) The labiovelar of [[gmy|a-to-ro-qo]] does not prove an Indo-European origin, since the substrate language had labiovelars too, as in [[βασιλεύς|tr=basileús]], Mycenaean [[m|gmy|qa-si-re-u]].^(Beekes 2010) Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+

+ The traditional explanation is a compound of [[m|grc|ἀνδρός|tr=andrós]], the stem of [[m|grc|ἀνήρ|tr=anḗr|t=man]], and [[m|grc|ὤψ|tr=ṓps|t=face, look]], “having a man's face”; but then *ἄνδρωπος would be expected, and the θ is unexplained.^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Rosén explained it by the laryngeal of ὤψ, which Beekes rejects.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Garnier derives it from Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*n̥dʰéreh₃kʷós|t=that which is below]], hence “earthly”.^(Wiktionary) The DGE thinks the first part may be related to Hittite [[m|hit|antuḫšaš|t=man]];^(DGE) Beekes regards the likeness as chance, since the Hittite word comes from *h₁en-dʰuh₂-s-, “having breath inside”.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found on the Mycenaean tablets as ''a-to-ro-qo''.^(Beekes 2010)^(Πάπυρος) In Homer it is mostly plural, and means men as a kind, set against the gods: “the immortal gods and men who walk upon the earth”.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924) Homer never uses it of a particular man.^(Cunliffe 1924)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Greek ἄνθρωπος is a human being of either sex and any age, as opposed to a god or an animal, while [[ἀνήρ|tr=anḗr]] is the man as opposed to the woman.^(CGL 2021)^(Πάπυρος) The vocative “man!” addresses a stranger, often with contempt.^(CGL 2021) Used as a feminine, ἡ ἄνθρωπος, it is a contemptuous word for a woman or a slave woman, from Herodotus on.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)^(Wiktionary) Plato uses it, with or without the article, for man as such, and in Epictetus “the man” is the ideal of humanity.^(LSJ 1940) Common phrases are “the best quail in the world” (literally “among men”) and κατ᾽ ἄνθρωπον “as befits a mortal”.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ It is one of the commonest words of the Septuagint, which also uses it, after Hebrew, for “each one”.^(Lust 2003) In the New Testament it contrasts humans with God and the angels, and appears in the idioms of the “inner” and the “old” man and in the title “the Son of Man”.^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

+

+ Medieval vernacular Greek had the forms ''άθρωπος'' and ''άνθρουπος'', and also used the word for an inhabitant or for the men of a ship's crew.^(Kriaras) Modern Greek [[m|el|άνθρωπος|tr=ánthropos]] means the human being and also a decent, humane person.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος) English words in ''anthropo-'' come from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Mycenaean – The tablets have ''a-to-ro-qo''.^(Beekes 2010)

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' contrast men with the gods.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the feminine contemptuously of a woman.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for man as such, and his ''Cratylus'' gives an ancient etymology of it.^(LSJ 1940)^(Etygram)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aeschines uses it for a man as opposed to a woman.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – The New Testament uses the title “the Son of Man”.^(UBS 2023)^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek has the forms ''άθρωπος'' and ''άνθρουπος''.^(Kriaras)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|human being]], man or woman, as opposed to the gods or the animals.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(plural)'' [[m|en|mankind]], people.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # ''(vocative)'' “Man!”, addressing a stranger, often with contempt.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(with another noun)'' A person who is something: ἄνθρωπος ὁδίτης “a wayfarer”.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A man, as opposed to a woman.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(feminine, contemptuous)'' A woman; a slave woman.^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' Man as such, [[m|en|humanity]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' A husband; ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, “the Son of Man”, a title of Jesus.^(UBS 2023)^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀνθρώπειος|tr=anthrṓpeios]]

+ * [[ἀνθρώπινος|tr=anthrṓpinos]]

+ * [[ἀνθρωποειδής|tr=anthrōpoeidḗs]]

+ * [[μισάνθρωπος|tr=mīsánthrōpos]]

+ * [[ἀνθρώπιον|tr=anthrṓpion]]

+ * [[ἀνθρωπικός|tr=anthrōpikós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[δρώψ|tr=drṓps]]

+ * [[en|philanthropy]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Plato's ''Cratylus'' explains ἄνθρωπος as the creature that “looks up at what it has seen” (ἀναθρεῖ ἃ ὄπωπε), unlike the other animals; later writers derived it from its upright posture or its articulate voice.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}