ὁδός Ancient Greek · revision 2264

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=grk-pro *hodós}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ὁδός''' (hodós) ''f'' (genitive ὁδοῦ); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|grk-pro|*hodós]].^(Wiktionary) It has traditionally been compared with the Slavic word for “walk, course”, [[sla-pro|*xodъ]], which like ὁδός often occurs with prefixes and may owe its x- (for s-) to them; this would point to [[ine-pro|*sodós|t=course]], a verbal noun of [[m|ine-pro|*sed-|t=to sit]], with further links to Indo-Iranian verbs meaning “to tread on, go away”.^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Beekes doubts this: the Slavic word shows no trace of Winter's law, which suggests that it was borrowed from Iranian, and the relation to *sed- remains unclear, so that ὁδός stays isolated.^(Beekes 2010) Wiktionary compares the development of [[en|road]], from [[gem-pro|*raidō|t=ride, journey]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Homer it is a way, path, track or road, a journey or voyage, and the means of passage (“your way lies open”).^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940) Once, in the ''Odyssey'', the first syllable is lengthened for metre as οὐδός.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Classical Greek used it for any journey or march, the course of rivers and of heavenly bodies, and figuratively for a course of action or of life, the way to a goal, and a method or system of inquiry (Parmenides, Plato).^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Its compounds with prepositions, such as [[ἔξοδος|tr=éxodos]], [[εἴσοδος|tr=eísodos]] “entrance”, [[σύνοδος|tr=súnodos]] and [[μέθοδος|tr=méthodos]], serve as the verbal nouns of the verbs of going.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ In the Septuagint it renders [[he|דרך|tr=derekh]] “way”, including a person's way of life; in early Christian usage “the Way” names the Christian movement.^(Lust 2003)^(Wiktionary)^(BDAG 2000) Medieval Greek kept it for road, course and way of life, and Cypriot and Pontic made it masculine.^(Kriaras) [[el|οδός|tr=odós]] is a learned word for a road or street, familiar from street names.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – a way, road or journey.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Parmenides uses it for a way of inquiry.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus has κατ’ ὁδόν, “on the way”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a method of investigation, and Xenophon for the channel of a river.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 3rd century BC – papyri mention the “royal road”.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century AD – Christians call their movement “the Way”.^(Wiktionary)^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Modern Greek – οδός, a learned word for a road or street.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|journey]] by land or sea; a mission, march or setting out.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The route or direction of travel, way.^(CGL 2021)

+ # A means of passage; a way in, out or through.^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # A path or track; a public [[m|en|road]] or [[m|en|street]].^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The course of moving things: heavenly bodies, rivers, birds of omen.^(CGL 2021)

+ # A course of change, process.^(CGL 2021)

+ # A course of life or action.^(CGL 2021)

+ # The way to a goal; a manner; the right procedure, [[m|en|method]].^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A path of thought, a system.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' The Way, the Christian faith.^(Wiktionary)^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀνοδία|tr=anodía]]

+ * [[διέξοδος|tr=diéxodos]]

+ * [[διοδεύω|tr=diodeúō]]

+ * [[δίοδος|tr=díodos]]

+ * [[ἔξοδος|tr=éxodos]]

+ * [[εἴσοδος|tr=eísodos]]

+ * [[μέθοδος|tr=méthodos]]

+ * [[σύνοδος|tr=súnodos]]

+ * [[ὁδοιπόρος|tr=hodoipóros]]

+ * [[ὁδεύω|tr=hodeúō]]

+ * [[ὁδίτης|tr=hodī́tēs]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|exodus]]

+ * [[en|method]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Its homograph [[ὀδός|tr=odós]], with smooth breathing, is a word for “threshold”, Ionic οὐδός.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}