φάος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• φαῦος (phaûos) — Aeolic
• φόως (phóōs) — Epic, assimilation
• φῶς (phôs) — Attic, contracted

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *pʰáwos, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂os, from *bʰeh₂- (“shine”).

Compare φαεινός (phaeinós), φάω (pháō), and φαίνω (phaínō). Cognates include Latin iubar (“radiance, light”); Sanskrit भास् (bhās, “light, brilliance”) and भास (bhāsa, “luster, light”); and Old English basu (“purple”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pʰá.os/ → /ˈɸa.os/ → /ˈfa.os/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pʰá.os/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰa.os/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈɸa.os/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.os/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.os/

Noun

φάος • (pháos) n (genitive φᾰ́εος); third declension

1. light, especially daylight
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 23.371
   1. the light of a torch, fire, a light
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 19.24
   2. of the light or time of day
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 21.429
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.605
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 515E
2. (poetic) the life of men
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.61
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 153
3. a day
   • c. 440 BCE, Euripides, Rhesus 447
4. the light of the eyes
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 10.75
5. a window
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 2.515B
6. (figurative or poetic) delight, deliverance, happiness, victory, glory, etc.
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 17.615
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.6
7. the dark ring around the nipple, areola
   • ante 177 CE, Pollux, Onomasticon 2.163

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ φᾰ́ος; τοῦ φᾰ́εος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ φᾰ́ος tò pháos	τὼ φᾰ́εε tṑ pháee	τᾰ̀ φᾰ́εᾰ tà pháea
Genitive	τοῦ φᾰ́εος toû pháeos	τοῖν φᾰέοιν toîn phaéoin	τῶν φᾰέων tôn phaéōn
Dative	τῷ φᾰ́εῐ̈ tôi pháeï	τοῖν φᾰέοιν toîn phaéoin	τοῖς φᾰ́εσῐ / φᾰ́εσῐν toîs pháesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ φᾰ́ος tò pháos	τὼ φᾰ́εε tṑ pháee	τᾰ̀ φᾰ́εᾰ tà pháea
Vocative	φᾰ́ος pháos	φᾰ́εε pháee	φᾰ́εᾰ pháea
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• -φαής (-phaḗs)
  • ἀμφιφαής (amphiphaḗs)

Further reading

• “φάος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “φάος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “φάος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• φάος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• φάος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “φάος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • blaze idem, page 82.
  • darling idem, page 195.
  • daylight idem, page 197.
  • flame idem, page 325.
  • glimmer idem, page 362.
  • glory idem, page 363.
  • glow idem, page 363.
  • jewel idem, page 463.
  • light idem, page 490.
  • loadstar idem, page 496.
  • pet idem, page 609.
  • pride idem, page 640.
  • treasure idem, page 891.
• “φάος”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011