Ἄρης

Validation

Yes

Word-form

ἀρετή

Transliteration (Word)

aretē

English translation (word)

goodness, excellence

Transliteration (Etymon)

Arēs

English translation (etymon)

Ares

Author

Etym. Genuinum

Century

9 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Etym. Genuinum, alpha 1142

Ed.

F. Lasserre and N. Livadaras, Etymologicum magnum genuinum. Symeonis etymologicum una cum magna grammatica. Etymologicum magnum auctum, vol. 2, Athens: Parnassos Literary Society, 1992

Quotation

Ἀρετή· παρὰ τὸ ἐρῶ, τὸ ἐπιθυμῶ, ἐρατή, καὶ κατὰ μετάθεσιν τῶν στοιχείων ἀρετή, ἡ ἐπέραστος κτῆσις, ἣν αἱροῦνται πάντες· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀρῶ ἀρέσω ἀρεστή καὶ ἀρετή, ἡ πᾶσιν ἀρέσκουσα. λέγεται καὶ ἀρετὴ ἡ κατὰ πόλεμον δύναμις, παρὰ τὸν ἄρην

Translation (En)

Aretē "excellence": from the verb erô "to desire", eratē "desirable", and through metathesis of the letters aretē, the desirable good, the one which everyone chooses. Or from arô, aresō "I will please", *arestē and aretē, the one which pleases everybody. Aretē applies also to strength in battle, from the name Arēs (god of war).

Comment

This is a typical contextual etymology designed to account for cases in poetry, mainly in Homer, where ἀρετή does not mean "virtue" or "goodness" but "bravery, warrior skills". As the usual etymologies of ἀρετή as "lovely, pleasant" or the like obviously cannot fit in this context, a different explanation was invented, deriving ἀρετή from the name of the war god, Ares, metonymic equivalent for "war". This etymology cannot be applied to the other uses of ἀρετή. This is a probable case of complementary etymology although it is not explicitly presented as such: the etymology through Ares accounts for the meaning “military excellence" while the one through areskō "to please" accounts for the general meaning “virtue".

Parallels

Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 138 (idem); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, alpha, p. 297 (Ἀρετή. παρὰ τὸ ἐρῶ τὸ ἐπιθυμῶ ἐρατὴ, καὶ κατὰ μετάθεσιν τῶν στοιχείων ἀρετὴ, ἡ ἐπέραστος κτῆσις, ἣν ἐροῦνται πάντες. ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἀρῶ, ἀρέσκω, ἀρεστὴ καὶ ἀρετὴ, ἡ πάντας ἀρέσκουσα. λέγεται καὶ ἀρετὴ ἡ κατὰ πόλεμον δύναμις, παρὰ τὸ ἄρην, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν πόλεμον).

This etymology may be hinted at in Libanios' Discourse 24 (Or. 24.37) Τούτου Διὶ μὲν μέλει, […] Ἄρει δὲ διὰ τὴν ἐν πολέμοις ἀρετήν "Zeus cares for that one […] and Ares because of his strength in battles."

Modern etymology

Ἀρετή probably belongs with ἀραρίσκω "to adapt", PIE root *h2er- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Αρετή still exists in Modern Greek as 'virtue/moral perfection' (Triandafyllidis, Dictionary of Modern Greek).

Entry By

Le Feuvre