φύω
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
υἱός
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
huios
English translation (word)
son
Transliteration (Etymon)
phuō
English translation (etymon)
to give birth, to generate
Century
9 AD ?
Source
Idem
Ref.
Epimerismi homerici ordine alphabetico traditi, upsilon 2
Ed.
A.R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici: Pars altera. Lexicon αἱμωδεῖν [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 5.2] Berlin - New York: De Gruyter, 1995: 59-761
Quotation
οὕτως ἀπὸ τῆς γενικῆς γίνεται υἱός. ἢ παρὰ τὸ φύω, τὸ γεννῶ, φυός καὶ υἱός
Translation (En)
So from the genitive (of υἱύς) comes huios ("son"). Or from phuō ("to give birth"), *phuos and huios
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, upsilon, p. 539 (idem); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 775 (idem); Scholia et glossae in Oppinanum, Hal. 1.78 (υἱῷ παρὰ τὸ φύω φυός καὶ υἱός); Scholia in Batrachomyomachia 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'.
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This etymology relies on the fundamental relationship between "son" and "to produce, to give birth", and is semantically straightforward. It implies a formal manipulation, dropping the initial [ph]. The intermediate step *phuos is a ghost word adduced for the sake of the explanation