ὀδύνη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *Hed-ún-eh₂ (“pain”), traditionally derived further from *h₁ed- (“to eat”), and compared with Albanian dhunë (“violence, use of force; damage, injury”), Old Armenian երկն (erkn, “birth pangs”), and Old Irish idu (“pains, birth pangs”), as well as ὀδύρομαι (odúromai, “to wail”) and Lithuanian ėdžiótis (“to trouble oneself”).

However, Beekes instead identifies the initial laryngeal as *h₃, and the further root as Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to bite, sting”), and adduces Lithuanian úodas (“gnat”) as cognate, as well as perhaps ὄζω (ózō, “to have a smell”), ὠδίς (ōdís, “throes of childbirth, anguish”), noting that the multiple senses of *h₃ed- ("stink", "hate", "bite") may all stem from an original meaning of "sting".^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /o.dý.nɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /oˈdy.ne̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /oˈðy.ni/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /oˈðy.ni/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /oˈði.ni/

Noun

ὀδύνη • (odúnē) f (genitive ὀδύνης); first declension

pain of body
pain of mind, grief, distress

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ὀδῠ́νη; τῆς ὀδῠ́νης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ὀδῠ́νη hē odŭ́nē	τὼ ὀδῠ́νᾱ tṑ odŭ́nā	αἱ ὀδῠ́ναι hai odŭ́nai
Genitive	τῆς ὀδῠ́νης tês odŭ́nēs	τοῖν ὀδῠ́ναιν toîn odŭ́nain	τῶν ὀδῠνῶν tôn odŭnôn
Dative	τῇ ὀδῠ́νῃ tēî odŭ́nēi	τοῖν ὀδῠ́ναιν toîn odŭ́nain	ταῖς ὀδῠ́ναις taîs odŭ́nais
Accusative	τὴν ὀδῠ́νην tḕn odŭ́nēn	τὼ ὀδῠ́νᾱ tṑ odŭ́nā	τᾱ̀ς ὀδῠ́νᾱς tā̀s odŭ́nās
Vocative	ὀδῠ́νη odŭ́nē	ὀδῠ́νᾱ odŭ́nā	ὀδῠ́ναι odŭ́nai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of ὀδῠ́νη; ὀδῠ́νης (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὀδῠ́νη odŭ́nē	ὀδῠ́νᾱ odŭ́nā	ὀδῠ́ναι odŭ́nai
Genitive	ὀδῠ́νης odŭ́nēs	ὀδῠ́ναιν / ὀδῠ́ναιῐν / ὀδῠ́νῃῐν odŭ́nai(ĭ)n / odŭ́nēiĭn	ὀδῠνᾱ́ων / ὀδῠνέ͜ων / ὀδῠνῶν odŭnā́ōn / odŭné͜ōn / odŭnôn
Dative	ὀδῠ́νῃ odŭ́nēi	ὀδῠ́ναιν / ὀδῠ́ναιῐν / ὀδῠ́νῃῐν odŭ́nai(ĭ)n / odŭ́nēiĭn	ὀδῠ́νῃσῐ / ὀδῠ́νῃσῐν / ὀδῠ́νῃς / ὀδῠ́ναις odŭ́nēisĭ(n) / odŭ́nēis / odŭ́nais
Accusative	ὀδῠ́νην odŭ́nēn	ὀδῠ́νᾱ odŭ́nā	ὀδῠ́νᾱς odŭ́nās
Vocative	ὀδῠ́νη odŭ́nē	ὀδῠ́νᾱ odŭ́nā	ὀδῠ́ναι odŭ́nai
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

ἀνώδυνος (anṓdunos)
ὀδυναίτερος (odunaíteros)
ὀδυνάω (odunáō)
ὀδύνημα (odúnēma)
ὀδυνηρός (odunērós)
ὀδυνήφατος (odunḗphatos)
ὀδυνηφόρος (odunēphóros)
ὀδυνοσπάς (odunospás)
ὀδυνώδης (odunṓdēs)

Descendants

Greek: οδύνη (odýni)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὀδύνη”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1047-8