εἰλικρινής

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

εἱλικρινής (heilikrinḗs)

Etymology

Of uncertain origin.

Traditionally derived as a compound of εἵλη (heílē, “heat or warmth of the sun”) +‎ κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, distinguish”) +‎ -ης (-ēs, “adjectival suffix”), thus "distinguished in or by the sun". However, this interpretation makes little sense when using εἵλη (heílē)'s basic sense of "heat of the sun"; thus, a secondary meaning of "sunlight" is apparently invoked. However, as Beekes notes, such a meaning has only been attested for the Doric variant ϝέλα (wéla) and is relatively recent, making the etymology more tenuous.

Other theories connecting the first element of the word to εἰλέω (eiléō) in either the "turn, wind" or "press together" senses are semantically difficult.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /eː.li.kri.nɛ̌ːs/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /i.li.kriˈne̝s/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /i.li.kriˈnis/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /i.li.kriˈnis/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /i.li.kriˈnis/

Adjective

εἰλικρῐνής • (eilikrĭnḗs) m or f (neuter εἰλικρῐνές); third declension

pure, absolute, genuine, unmixed
(figuratively) pure, clean, honest

Declension

Third declension of εἰλῐκρῐνής; εἰλῐκρῐνές (contracted, Attic)

Number	Singular		Dual		Plural
Case/Gender	Masculine / Feminine	Neuter	Masculine / Feminine	Neuter	Masculine / Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	εἰλῐκρῐνής eilĭkrĭnḗs	εἰλῐκρῐνές eilĭkrĭnés	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖς eilĭkrĭneîs	εἰλῐκρῐνῆ eilĭkrĭnê
Genitive	εἰλῐκρῐνοῦς eilĭkrĭnoûs	εἰλῐκρῐνοῦς eilĭkrĭnoûs	εἰλῐκρῐνοῖν eilĭkrĭnoîn	εἰλῐκρῐνοῖν eilĭkrĭnoîn	εἰλῐκρῐνῶν eilĭkrĭnôn	εἰλῐκρῐνῶν eilĭkrĭnôn
Dative	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνοῖν eilĭkrĭnoîn	εἰλῐκρῐνοῖν eilĭkrĭnoîn	εἰλῐκρῐνέσῐ / εἰλῐκρῐνέσῐν eilĭkrĭnésĭ(n)	εἰλῐκρῐνέσῐ / εἰλῐκρῐνέσῐν eilĭkrĭnésĭ(n)
Accusative	εἰλῐκρῐνῆ eilĭkrĭnê	εἰλῐκρῐνές eilĭkrĭnés	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖς eilĭkrĭneîs	εἰλῐκρῐνῆ eilĭkrĭnê
Vocative	εἰλῐκρῐνές eilĭkrĭnés	εἰλῐκρῐνές eilĭkrĭnés	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖ eilĭkrĭneî	εἰλῐκρῐνεῖς eilĭkrĭneîs	εἰλῐκρῐνῆ eilĭkrĭnê
Derived forms	Adverb		Comparative		Superlative
Derived forms	εἰλῐκρῐνῶς eilĭkrĭnôs		εἰλῐκρῐνέστερος eilĭkrĭnésteros		εἰλῐκρῐνέστᾰτος eilĭkrĭnéstătos
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

εἰλικρίνεια (eilikríneia, “purity”)
εἰλικρινέω (eilikrinéō, “to purify”)

Descendants

Greek: ειλικρινής (eilikrinís)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “εἰλικρινής”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 386

“εἰλικρινής”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“εἰλικρινής”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“εἰλικρινής”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
εἰλικρινής 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
εἰλικρινής in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
“εἰλικρινής”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
G3022 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.
- absolute idem, page 4.
- entire idem, page 277.
- plain idem, page 616.
- pure idem, page 658.
- rank idem, page 671.
- sheer idem, page 764.
- simple idem, page 776.
- stark idem, page 811.
- unadulterated idem, page 906.
- undiluted idem, page 914.
- unmitigated idem, page 926.
“εἰλικρινής”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “εἰλικρινής”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 386

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