ἥρως

Ancient Greek

FWOTD – 2 December 2015

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Cognate with Latin servō and possibly Ἥρα (Hḗra).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hɛ̌ː.rɔːs/ → /ˈi.ros/ → /ˈi.ros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hɛ̌ː.rɔːs/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)e̝.ros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.ros/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈi.ros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈi.ros/

Noun

ἥρως • (hḗrōs) m (genitive ἥρωος); third declension

1. (Homeric) a hero of the Trojan War: any of the major combatants of the Greek or Trojan forces
2. (classical) a hero or heroine of the ancient Greek religion: a human or demigod whose shrine was celebrated with chthonic rituals organized by local governments

Usage notes

Because the root of ἥρως ends with a vowel instead of a consonant, shortenings are common, such as ἥρως for the genitive singular and ἥρῳ for the dative singular.

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ ἥρως; τοῦ ἥρωος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ἥρως ho hḗrōs	τὼ ἥρωε tṑ hḗrōe	οἱ ἥρωες hoi hḗrōes
Genitive	τοῦ ἥρωος toû hḗrōos	τοῖν ἡρώοιν toîn hērṓoin	τῶν ἡρώων tôn hērṓōn
Dative	τῷ ἥρῳ / ἥρωῐ̈ tôi hḗrōi / hḗrōï	τοῖν ἡρώοιν toîn hērṓoin	τοῖς ἥρωσῐ / ἥρωσῐν toîs hḗrōsi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ἥρω / ἥρωᾰ tòn hḗrō / hḗrōa	τὼ ἥρωε tṑ hḗrōe	τοὺς ἥρωᾰς toùs hḗrōas
Vocative	ἥρως hḗrōs	ἥρωε hḗrōe	ἥρωες hḗrōes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• ἡρωίζω (hērōízō)
• ἡρωϊκός (hērōïkós)
• ἡρωίνη (hērōínē)
• ἡρώϊος (hērṓïos)
• ἡρωίς (hērōís)
• ἡρωϊσμός (hērōïsmós)
• ἡρωϊστής (hērōïstḗs)
• ἡρῷον (hērôion)

 

Descendants

• Greek: ήρωας (íroas)
• Latin: hērōs
  • Italian: eroe
  • Old French: heroes
    • French: héros
    • English: hero
      • Japanese: ヒーロー (hīrō)
  • Portuguese: herói
  • Spanish: héroe
  • Russian: геро́й (gerój)
  • Serbo-Croatian: heroj

References

• “ἥρως”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἥρως”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἥρως”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἥρως in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἥρως in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ἥρως”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • demigod idem, page 209.
  • hero idem, page 397.
  • patron idem, page 599.
  • saint idem, page 731.