[B-Greek] only begotten

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Dec 9 19:49:27 EST 2003


At 2:45 PM -0800 12/9/03, Mark Lama wrote:
>Jason Hare <jason at hareplay.com> wrote:
>The first part of it comes from MONOS, "only," and the second part from
>GENOS, "class, sort, kind." See the following for a reference on GENOS:
>
>http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?layout.reflookup=genos&doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2321920&layout.reflang=greek
>
>MONOGENHS is "one of a kind," "unique," "special." It is often used to refer
>specifically to only-born children, but in the sense that they are "unique"
>(they have no siblings). It does not carry with it the notion of "begetting"
>or "producing" (as in GENNAW).
>
>Best regards,
>Jason
>
>[Mark]
>
>But, Jason, the most basic senses of GENOS derive not from the idea of
>class or category, but from the idea of begetting, as the Liddell and
>Scott article that you reference clearly shows. One N as opposed to two
>N's is a matter of Greek etymology and morphology that I am not qualified
>to speak on without a reference work at hand, but I suspect that the basic
>idea behind the element -GENHS is indeed begetting

Well, I think that GENNAW is a matter of GEN + NA from the Nasal group of
formative elements for present stems: Smyth §523g, 737. But I think it's
somewhat dangerous to get into the game of etymology; I think that this
root which in Greek is GEN/GON/GN shows up in English as "kin" and "kind."
One might raise the question whether the GENES- from GENOS/OUS has the
sense "kin" or "kind"--that is to say, whether the association has more to
do with (a) "generate" or more to do with (b) "familial grouping." If it's
(a) then it's "one of a kin," if (b) then it's "one of a kind." But I don't
think it's wise to push too far the etymological links in determining
meaning; evidence of USAGE has to play the chief role here.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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