ὕω

Word

Validation

Yes

Word-form

υἱόν

Word-lemma

LSJ

Etymon-lemma

LSJ

Transliteration (Word)

huios

English translation (word)

son

Transliteration (Etymon)

huō

English translation (etymon)

to rain

Author

Plutarch

Century

1/2 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

De Iside et Osiride, Mor. 364d

Ed.

W. Sieveking, Plutarchi moralia, vol. 2.3, Leipzig: Teubner, 1935 (repr. 1971)

Quotation

καὶ γὰρ Ἕλληνες τὴν τοῦ σπέρματος πρόεσιν ἀπουσίαν καλοῦσι καὶ συνουσίαν τὴν μῖξιν, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ὗσαι

Translation (En)

In fact, the Greeks call emission apousia and coition synousia, and the "son" (huios) from water (hudōr) and "rain" (husai) (transl. Cole Babbitt)

Comment

This paronymic etymology is probably older than Plutarch and is repeated down to Byzantine times. It derives huios "son" from huein "to rain". This conception relying on an analogy between rain and sperm is also found in other etymologies, like ἄρσην "male" derived from ἄρδω "to irrigate" (see ἄρσην / ἄρδω), as Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 9 makes clear. From the formal point of view, it does not imply any manipulation. However, Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 116 explains that from huein one would expect *huos, not huios, and that the spelling through the diphthong [ui] is meant to distinguish the word from ὗς, ὑός "swine", which was also derived from "to rain"

Parallels

Choeroboscus, Epimerismi in Psalmos p. 88 (υἱός […] Παρὰ τὸ ὕω τὸ βρέχω· ὁ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς μητρὸς ὢν εὐφρασία· ἢ παρὰ τὸ ὕϊς ὕϊος καὶ κράσει ὓς (υἱὸς), καὶ μετάγεται ἡ γενικὴ εἰς εὐθεῖαν, καὶ ὀξύνεται); Etym. Gudianum, upsilon p. 540 (Ὑιὸς, παρὰ τὸ ὕω τὸ βρέχω, ὁ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς μητρὸς ὢν εὐφρασία); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 775 (idem); Eustathius, Comm. Od. 1, 9 (παρωνόμασται δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς πόσεως ὁ πόσις ὡς δοκεῖ τοῖς παλαιοῖς, διὰ τὴν σπερματικὴν ὑγρότητα. ὡς καὶ ὁ ἄρσην, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρδειν. καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕειν. διὸ καὶ τὸ ὀπυίειν, ἐντεῦθεν αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει παράγεσθαι. οἱονεὶ τὸ διὰ τῆς ὀπῆς ὕειν ὅθεν ὁ υἱός); ibid. 1, 116 (Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς ὡς ἀλλαχοῦ δεδήλωται, εἴτε ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕω τὸ βρέχω γίνεται κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς εἴτε ἀπὸ τοῦ φύω τὸ γεννῶ, διὰ μόνου τοῦ υ ψιλοῦ ὤφειλεν εἶναι.  διὸ καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ Ἀττικοὶ, οὕτως ἔγραφον ὥς φασιν οἱ τεχνικοί. ἐγράφη δὲ ὅμως διὰ τοῦ υ ψιλοῦ καὶ ἰῶτα ἐν διφθόγγῳ, πρὸς διαστολὴν τοῦ ὗς ὑὸς ὁ χοῖρος); Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 137 (τὸ υἱός διὰ μόνου τοῦ υ γράφουσιν Ἀττικοί, ἡ δὲ κοινὴ διάλεκτος πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν [τοῦ] ὗς ὑός ὁ χοῖρος τὸ ι συνεκφώνησε· φύσει γὰρ διὰ τοῦ υ μόνου ὤφειλεν, εἴτε ἀπὸ τοῦ φύω, εἴτε ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕω τὸ βρέχω)

Modern etymology

Υἱός, older υἱύς, is the old inherited name of the son, matching Goth. sunus, Engl. son, Slavic syn, Vedic sūnú- (Beekes, EDG)

Persistence in Modern Greek

Υιός survives in Modern Greek to designate: 1. 'son', as a formal form, 2. Christ in the Holly Trinity. Also in phrases as "ο άσωτος υιός". The vernacular form in MG is γιός, reflex of the old υἱός, which is preserved in compounds as υιοθεσία, 'adoption'.

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