ὕβρις Ancient Greek · revision 3231

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=Homer, Iliad}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈy.vris/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ῠ̔́βρῐς''' (húbris) ''f'' (genitive ῠ̔́βρεως or ῠ̔́βρῐος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Beekes thinks the ''β'' and the initial ''ὑ-'' hardly look Indo-European, so the word could well be Pre-Greek.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) A widely accepted older explanation combines the prefix [[m|grc|ὑ-|tr=hu-|t=up, out]] with the root of [[βαρύς|tr=barús|t=heavy]] and [[βριαρός|tr=briarós|t=strong]], as if “to throw one's whole weight against something”.^(Frisk 1960)^(Etymonline) Frisk thought it morphologically unsatisfying, and Beekes says the prefix explains nothing.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline) Nikolaev linked it with [[ἥβη|tr=hḗbē|t=youthful vigour]] and reconstructed [[ine-pro|*(H)i̯oHgʷ-ri-]], but Beekes rejects this, since it would have given a form in ''ὠ-''.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) A Semitic origin from a Hebrew word for “overflowing” was rejected long ago.^(Rosół 2013)

+

+ Byzantine etymologists derived it from [[ὑφαιρέω|tr=huphairéō|t=to filch away]] or from “under a weight”.^(Etygram)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the first book of the ''Iliad'' it is an act of arrogance, an insult.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Odyssey'' it is above all the wanton violence of the suitors, whose ''hubris'' “reaches the iron sky”, and the gods watch over ''hubris'' and good order among men.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924) For Hesiod justice prevails over ''hubris'' in the end.^(LSJ 1940) In lyric and tragedy it is paired with [[κόρος|tr=kóros|t=excess]], whose mother it is in Pindar and in an oracle in Herodotus.^(CGL 2021) Aeschylus calls it the child of impiety.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Plato defines it as desire that rules us unreasonably.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ In Athenian law it was a crime of deliberate humiliation, especially physical assault and sexual violation, which could be punished with death.^(CGL 2021) It was also used of the unruliness of animals and the violence of storms, as in the shipwreck in Acts.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000) In the Septuagint and the New Testament it means insolence and pride, and also the insults and mistreatment one suffers.^(Lust 2003)^(BDAG 2000)

+

+ Modern Greek [[m|el|ύβρις|tr=ývris]] is a learned word for an insult, and for the ancient notion of overstepping the human measure.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)^(Etygram) English ''hubris'' dates from 1884.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' uses it for an insult, and the ''Odyssey'' for the suitors' violence.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod sets justice against ''hubris''.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Pindar makes Hybris the mother of Koros.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 4th century BC – The Attic orators use it for assault and rape as a legal offence.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 1st century AD – Acts uses it for the damage done by a storm.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 1884 – English borrows it as ''hubris''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|arrogance]], [[m|en|insolence]], wanton violence.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # An insolent act; an insult or outrage.^(CGL 2021)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ # Unruliness of animals.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(law)'' Physical [[m|en|assault]]; sexual violation.^(CGL 2021)

+ # Sacrilege, an offence against the state and its religion.^(CGL 2021)

+ # Damage done by force, as by a storm.^(BDAG 2000)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Septuagint, New Testament)'' Insult or mistreatment suffered.^(Lust 2003)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # ''(personified)'' Hybris, mother of Koros.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ὑβρίζω|tr=hubrízō]]

+ * [[ὕβρισμα|tr=húbrisma]]

+ * [[ὑβριστής|tr=hubristḗs]]

+ * [[ὑβριστικός|tr=hubristikós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|hubris]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}