βίος
Ancient Greek
Etymology
Either from Proto-Hellenic *gʷīwos, from *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), and cognate with Old English cwic (English quick), Latin vīvus, and Old Church Slavonic живъ (živŭ); or a syncope of βίοτος (bíotos).
In either case, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”), whence also ζωός (zōós) and ζῷον (zōîon), and cognate with Old Church Slavonic жити (žiti), Sanskrit जीवति (jīvati), Latin vīvō, Old Armenian կեամ (keam).[1]
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /bí.os/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈbi.os/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈβi.os/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈvi.os/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈvi.os/
Noun
βῐ́ος • (bĭ́os) m (genitive βῐ́ου); second declension (Epic, Attic, Ionic, Koine)
- life (often with a positive connotation: the good life)
Inflection
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ὁ βῐ́ος ho bĭ́os |
τὼ βῐ́ω tṑ bĭ́ō |
οἱ βῐ́οι hoi bĭ́oi | ||||||||||
| Genitive | τοῦ βῐ́ου toû bĭ́ou |
τοῖν βῐ́οιν toîn bĭ́oin |
τῶν βῐ́ων tôn bĭ́ōn | ||||||||||
| Dative | τῷ βῐ́ῳ tōî bĭ́ōi |
τοῖν βῐ́οιν toîn bĭ́oin |
τοῖς βῐ́οις toîs bĭ́ois | ||||||||||
| Accusative | τὸν βῐ́ον tòn bĭ́on |
τὼ βῐ́ω tṑ bĭ́ō |
τοὺς βῐ́ους toùs bĭ́ous | ||||||||||
| Vocative | βῐ́ε bĭ́e |
βῐ́ω bĭ́ō |
βῐ́οι bĭ́oi | ||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βιω-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 216-7
Further reading
- “βίος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “βίος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “βίος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- βίος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- βίος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
- βίος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
- “βίος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G979 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- being idem, page 72.
- career idem, page 113.
- course idem, page 178.
- existence idem, page 292.
- life idem, page 489.
- livelihood idem, page 495.
- living idem, page 496.
- maintenance idem, page 508.
- subsistence idem, page 832.
- support idem, page 841.
- sustenance idem, page 846.
- tenor idem, page 862.
Greek
Etymology
From Ancient Greek βίος (bíos).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvi.os/ compare to βιος (vios)
- Hyphenation: βί‧ος
Noun
βίος • (víos) m (plural βίοι)
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | βίος (víos) | βίοι (víoi) |
| genitive | βίου (víou) | βίων (víon) |
| accusative | βίο (vío) | βίους (víous) |
| vocative | βίε (víe) | βίοι (víoi) |
Synonyms
- (life): ζωή n (zoḯ)
Further reading
- βίος, in Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής [Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek], Triantafyllidis Foundation, 1998 at the Centre for the Greek language
- βίος on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia el