φῶς Ancient Greek · revision 2349

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=5th century BC, tragedy|origins=ine-pro *bʰeh₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pʰɔ̂ːs/^(Wiktionary)

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''φῶς''' (phôs) ''n'' (genitive φωτός); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the Attic contraction of [[φάος|tr=pháos]] “light”,^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(LSJ 1940) which is [[inh|grk-pro|*pʰáwos]],^(Wiktionary) from [[ine-pro|*bʰeh₂-|t=to shine]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Beekes and Frisk trace the whole group to a thematic aorist [[m|grc|*φαϝεῖν]], seen only in the Homeric [[φάε|tr=pháe]] “appeared, shone” and a few other rare forms; the Pamphylian spelling [[φάβος|tr=phábos]] keeps the old /w/.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ After the contraction the old s-stem (genitive φάους) was remade as a t-stem, genitive φωτός (phōtós), on the model of [[χρώς|tr=khrṓs]] and [[ἔρως|tr=érōs]]; epic [[φόως|tr=phóōs]] is the same contracted form with its vowel “stretched” for metre.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) Beekes and Frisk find it unnecessary to assume a separate inherited form φῶς.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Wiktionary compares [[la|iubar|t=radiance]], [[sa|भास्|tr=bhā́s|t=light]] and [[ang|basu|t=purple]].^(Wiktionary) Related within Greek are [[φαίνω|tr=phaínō]] and [[φαεινός|tr=phaeinós]] “shining”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer has only the uncontracted φάος and epic φόως, never φῶς.^(LSJ 1940) They mean the light of day and of the sun, which stands for life itself (“to leave the light of the sun” is to die), the light of a lamp, a dear person (“you have come, Telemachus, sweet light”), help or deliverance in battle, and in the plural the eyes.^(Cunliffe 1924)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The tragedians use φάος or φῶς as the metre requires, and in prose φῶς is the only form of the nominative and accusative.^(LSJ 1940) “To see the light” meant to be alive, and “into the light” meant into existence or into public view.^(CGL 2021)^(Spicq 1994)

+

+ Hellenistic Greek built new words on the stem φωτ-: [[φωτεινός|tr=phōteinós]] “luminous” (from Xenophon on) and [[φωτίζω|tr=phōtízō]] “to give light, enlighten”, which Christians also used of baptism.^(Beekes 2010)^(Spicq 1994) In the Septuagint light appears at Genesis 1:3 and becomes a common metaphor; in the New Testament the word is used of God and of spiritual illumination, the light of truth.^(Lust 2003)^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000) Christian writers applied it to God, to Christ, to the Trinity and to angels and saints, as in the Creed's “light from light”.^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ It survives as [[el|φως|tr=fos]].^(Triantafyllidis 1998) Triantafyllidis notes that some of its learned senses are modelled on [[fr|lumière]].^(Triantafyllidis 1998) [[el|φωτιά|tr=fotiá]] “fire” is a reshaped form of it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – φάος and φόως for daylight and life.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides speak of the “light of heaven” and the “light of the upper air”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato writes of the light of the sun, and Xenophon has the derivative φωτεινός.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd century BC – Polybius uses ἅμα τῷ φωτί, “at daybreak”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – the New Testament uses it of God and spiritual light.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Modern Greek – φως, with senses partly modelled on French ''lumière''.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Light of day, [[m|en|daylight]]; in phrases “to see the light”, to be alive.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # Broad daylight, full public view.^(CGL 2021)

+ # With εἰς or ἐς: into existence, back to life, into sight or into public.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(tragedy)'' A [[m|en|day]].^(CGL 2021)

+ # The light of the moon or stars.^(CGL 2021)

+ # Light from torches or fires; a [[m|en|torch]] or [[m|en|lamp]].^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Brilliance; the shining light of victory, deliverance or hope; a dear person.^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' God as light; spiritual illumination, the light of truth.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # ''(usually plural, poetic)'' The [[m|en|eye|alt=eyes]].^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[φωτεινός|tr=phōteinós]]

+ * [[φωτίζω|tr=phōtízō]]

+ * [[φωτισμός|tr=phōtismós]]

+ * [[φωσφόρος|tr=phōsphóros]]

+ * [[φωταγωγός|tr=phōtagōgós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[φάος|tr=pháos]]

+ * [[φαίνω|tr=phaínō]]

+ * [[φαεινός|tr=phaeinós]]

+ * [[en|phosphorus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The lexicographers distinguish φῶς “light” from the acute-accented [[φώς|tr=phṓs]] “man”, a poetic word of uncertain origin; an old proposal links it with the root for “shine”, which Beekes finds semantically implausible.^(Hesychius)^(Suda)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}