ἱερός

ἱερός

Grammatical information: adj.

Meaning: "holy", `dedicated to a god, divine', also in gen. praising `glorious, excellent, strong, quick etc.' (cf. below); ἱερόν n. `consecrated area, temple' (posthom.), ἱερά n. pl., rarely sg. `Weihgeschenk, sacrifice(animal)' (Il.).

Other forms: Dor., NWGr. ἱαρός, Ion. poet. ἰ̄ρός, Aeol. ἶρος

Dialectal forms: Myc. i-je-ro, i-je-re-u i-je-re-ja ijerowoko \/ἱΏεροϜοργος\/

Compounds: As 1. member in many compp., not mentioned here.

Derivatives: (Dialectforms not noted): 1. ἱερεύς (Il.), Arc. Cypr. ἱερής, Ion. also ἱέρεως (hardly taken from ἀρχιέρεως, Sommer Nominalkomp. 129, Egli Heteroklisie 111f. with new explan.) m. `who performs the sacrifices (τὰ ἱερά), offerer, priest' (Schulze KZ 52, 193 = Kl. Schr. 573; after Boßhardt Die Nom. auf -ευς rather backformation from ἱερεύω; on meaning and spread E. Kretschmer Glotta 18, 81f.). From ἱερεύς: a) several feminines (cf. on βασιλεύς): ἱέρεια (Il.), Cypr. ἰερήϜιϳα, Ion. ἱερέη, -ῆ; ἱερηΐς (Megar.), ἱέρισσα (pap. II<sup>a</sup>); b) the nouns ἱερεία `priest-ship' (Thyateira; cf. Bechtel Dial. 1, 311), ἱερεῖον, -ήϊον `sacrif. animal' (Il.), ἱερ(ε)ωσύνη `priest-ship' (IA) with ἱερ(ε)ώσυνος `priesterly' (hell.); c) the adjective ἱερευτικός `priesterly (pap.); d) the denominatives ἱερεύω `offer, devote' (Il.) with ἱέρευσις (sch.) and ἱερεύσιμος (Plu. 2, 729d, besides θύσιμος; Arbenz Die Adj. auf -ιμος 94), or from ἱερός, ἱερά; ἱερεώομαι, ἱερεώσασθαι `be priest' (hell.; Schulze Symb. phil. Danielsson 304 = Kl. Schr. 325). - 2. ἱερόλας = ἱερεύς (S. Fr. 57; uncertain; on the formation Chantraine Formation 238). - 3. ἱερῖτιν καθαρμοῦ δεομένην, ἱκέτιν H. (A. Fr. 93). - 4. ἱερατικός `priesterly, hieratic' (Pl. Plt. 290d, Arist.; cf. also ἱερατεύω, ἱερατεία below). - 5. Ι῝ερυς PN (Leumann Glotta 32, 220). - 6. Several denomin.: a) ἱερεύω, cf. om ἱερεύς; b) ἱεράομαι care for the victims (ἱερά)' (Hdt., Th.); c) ἱεράζω `id.' (Ion. islands), Boeot. ἱαρειάδδω, prob. from ἱαρεία; d) ἱερόω `consecrate' (Att., Locr. etc.) with ἱέρωμα `consecration' (Cret., Epid. etc.), ἱερωτός (Thess.); e) ἱερίζω = καθαίρω H. (s. ἁγνίτης) with ἱεριστής `who cares for the ἱερα' and ἱερισμός `holy service' (hell.); f) ἱερατεύω `be priest' with ἱερατεία, ἱεράτευμα, ἱερατεῖον; ἱεριτεύω `id.'; ἱερωτεύω `id.' with ἱερωτεία; all dialectical, hell.; on the formation Schwyzer 732, Solmsen Glotta 1, 80.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [299] *ish₁ro- `holy'

Etymology: The different meanings, partly also the variation in form induced many scholars to split ἱερός in two or even in three words. Thus one has because of the long anlaut in ἱ̄ερὸν ἰχθύν Π 407, ἱαρὸς ὄρνις (Alkm. Fr. 26) and ἱερὸς ὄρ. (AP 7, 171), which can be easily explained as metr. lengthening, assumed a special Ϝῑερός `rapid, quick', from where ἱέραξ `hawk' (s. v.). In the meaning `strong, forceful' ἱερός would however be identical with Skt. iṣirá- etwa `strong, active'; here also Celtic river names like Isara (Krahe Beitr. z. Namenforschung 4, 121f.). A third ἱερός, as `holy', would have connections with Italic and Germanic, e. g. Osc. aisusis `sacrifiis', Paelign. aisis, Umbr. erus `dis', OHG ēra `Ehre'. Thus esp. Schulze Q. 207ff. after Ahrens Phil. 27, 585ff., Solmsen Unt. 147ff. For uniform origin, though in parts different, Kuhn KZ 2, 274, Meillet Zeitschr. celt. Phil. 10, 309, Devoto Studi etr. 5, 316, v. Wilamowitz Glaube 1, 21f., Specht in Schaeder ZDMG 94, 408, Duchesne-Guillemin Mélanges Boisacq 1, 333ff., who as support of the old comparison with Skt. iṣirá- pointed to the agreement between ἱερὸν μένος and Skt. iṣiréṇa mánasā (instr.). On which now R. Schmitt Dichtung u. Dichtersprache 111-114. - Kretschmer Glotta 11, 278ff. (s. also Glotta 30, 88) considered ἱερός as cross of Gr. *aisaros, *eiseros `divine' (with Etr. aesar `god' and Osc. aisusis etc.) and an IE word for `strong' (= Skt. iṣirá-). - See P. Wülfing von Martitz, Glotta 38 (1960) 272-307 and 39 (1961)24-43; s. also Belardi Doxa 3, 207. J.P. Locher, Unters. zυ ἱερός haupts. bei Homer (Berne 1963). The change ἱερός, ἱαρός, ἰ̄ρός (IE *iseros, *isr̥os, *isrós ?) Schwyzer 482 and 243; Ramat, Sprache 8 (1962) 4-28 connects Skt. iṣṇāti `set in movement', which gives *ish₁ro-. Lesbian ἶρος must be due to assimilation. Dot. ἱαρός is due to dev. before r. On the aspiration ibd. 219f. On the meaning (against ἅγιος, ἁγνός) Nilsson Gr. Rel. 1, 61ff.; also J. Chr. Bolkestein Ο῝σιος en εὑσεβής. diss. Amsterdam 1936, Palmer Eranos 53, 4ff., Defradas Rev. de phil. 81, 208ff. - Older lit. in Bq. García Ramón, Akten VII. Fachtagung, Innsbruck 1992, 183-205, connects 1. eis- (Pok. 299f.) `set in motion', i. e. Skt. iṣṇāti, Gr. ἰνάω (ῑ-), which gives *h₁ish₂-ro-, but assumes that between s and cons. a laryngeal was lost, giving ἰ̃ρος etc.; -ερος and -αρος would be replacements.

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