herous Latin · revision 36395

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=grc ἡρῷος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [heːˈroː.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [eˈrɔː.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hērōus''' (feminine hērōa, neuter hērōum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἡρῷος|tr=hērôios|t=heroic; the heroic metre]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(MLW) a contracted form of [[m|grc|ἡρώϊος|tr=hērṓïos]], which belongs to [[m|grc|ἥρως|tr=hḗrōs|t=hero]];^(Wiktionary) Latin borrowed the noun as [[hērōs]].^(Saalfeld 1874)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''Orator'' calls the heroic rhythm, the dactylic hexameter, grander than prose requires.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Cicero and in the writers on metre it is mostly a term for the dactylic hexameter, the verse of epic, and for its foot: Cicero speaks of heroic verses and the heroic foot, and Quintilian says the ''hērōus'' is the same as the dactyl.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Propertius applied it to heroes themselves and to epic poetry,^(OLD 2012) and Ovid writes of the hexameter joined to a shorter line in the elegiac couplet.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) As a masculine noun it meant a hexameter: Ovid recalls a poet famous for his hexameters, and Quintilian calls Ovid playful even in epic verse.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL notes that the grammarians use it often.^(TLL)

+

+ The neuter noun ''hērōum'' named a monument to a hero, and in Pliny the Elder also the [[m|en|asphodel]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers kept the adjective for epic verse, and a verse letter of the Mainz collection uses the masculine as a title of address for an archbishop, “lord”.^(MLW)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the heroic rhythm and heroic verse.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of heroes and of epic poetry.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it as a noun for a hexameter.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian equates the ''hērōus'' with the dactyl.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or belonging to [[m|en|hero|alt=heroes]], [[m|en|heroic]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (of poetry) Dealing with heroes, [[m|en|epic]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(prosody)'' Of the dactylic [[m|en|hexameter]], the metre of heroic verse.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hexameter, a verse in this metre.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(prosody)'' A [[m|en|dactyl]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A lord (as a title of address).^(MLW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hērōum]]

+ * [[hērōīon]]

+ * [[hērōon]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate adjective ''Hērōus'' means “of Hero”, the priestess loved by Leander;^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) Lucan speaks of Hero's towers.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}