[B-Greek] etymology of αγια/agia
vasilis tsialas
tsialas78 at hotmail.com
Wed Apr 30 05:35:21 EDT 2008
The etymology of the word ἅγιος [hagios] is problematic.
In older times, the word was etymologicaly connected,
due to the semantic relation, with the latin sac-er "sacred"
from the root *sac- which would give in Greek ἁκ- [hak],
not ἁγ- [ag]. This insurmountable difficulty of explaning
the γ [g] (instead of κ [k]) in ἅγιος [hagios], on the one hand,
and the list of the words of the same root
ἅζομαι [hazomai], ἁγνός [hagnos] and, most probalby,
ἄγος [hagos] (with their compoud words and their derivatives),
on the other hand, that allow a certain connection
with the hindo-european root *yag-,
leads us to make a revision of the etymology of ἅγιος [agios].
Hence, with more certainty ἅγιος [hagios] can be produced
by the ancient *yag-ios having the Hindo-European root *yag-,
that means "to give honor" (in a religious meaning).
The word ἅγιος [hagios], unknown to Homer, to Hesiodus
and to the tragic writers, was used by Herodotus and down
refering mostly to places or objects of piety due to their connection
with the divine ("venerable, sacred") or even disgust,
as offending the sacredness of the divine, ("cursed, filthy"). Later,
in the Christian age, it was used for persons devoted to something sacred,
denoting until today the sanctity ("St. John").
The word ἁγνός [hagnos] (cf. anc. Hind. yajna-),
having always a positive meaning refering to both persons and things,
was already employed by Homer and down,
which word, having being used paralelly with ἅγιος [hagios],
finaly was substituted by the last, and it is still in use in modern Greek
having the meaning of unadulterated, pure (moraly and literally).
Finally, if we accept that ἅγιος [hagios] comes from the primitive
rough breathing type ἅγος [hagos], (cf. the inscriptions εὐhαγής [euhages]
and περhαγής [perhages] with the rough breathing of ἁγής [hages]),
we have to do with a word of the same root that from the gereral original meaning
of "an object of religious piety and fear" it was gradualy limited to the meaning
of "μίασμα [miasma], adomination, blasphemy" (that needs purification).
This last meaning led, according to a view, to the smooth breathing
of the word ἄγος [hagos], so that there may be an oral distinction
of the negative ἄγος [hagos] from the words ἅγιος, ἁγνός, ἅζομαι [hagios, hagnos, hazomai]
(and the words of the same root).
A cursory translation from the Μεγα Λεξικο της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας
(Great Lexicon of the Greek Language), Papyros Publications, 2005.
Vasileios Tsialas,
Athens, Greece
> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:46:24 -0400> From: anball at gmail.com> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org> Subject: [B-Greek] etymology of αγια/agia> > Greetings.> > Can anyone help me with finding out what etymologies people have> proposed for αγια/agia?> > At risk of digression from Greek, I'd also like to find information on> the Hebrew word or words that have been translated as αγια.> > Peace,> Andrew> > -- > =======================> Andrew D. Ball> 勃安> deus caritas est> http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/~adball/blog/> http://filebox.vt.edu/~anball1/> http://www.trilug.org/> ---> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek> B-Greek mailing list> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
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