θῆλυς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

All the senses relating to 'female' are related to θηλή, breast, nipple, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-, to suck. Cognates include Latin fēmina, fētus, fīlius; Sanskrit धयति (dhayati); Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬎 (daēnu); Old Armenian դիեմ (diem); and Old Church Slavonic доити (doiti). The sense 'abundant' is related to θάλλω, to flourish.

Pronunciation

Adjective

θῆλῠς • (thêlus) m (feminine θήλειᾰ, neuter θῆλῠ); first/third declension

1. female

   θήλεια θεός/θεᾱ́ ― thḗleia theós/theā́ ― goddess (literally, “female god”)

   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.66.2:

     Καμβύσεα τὸν Κύρου, ἄπαιδα τὸ παράπαν ἐόντα ἔρσενος καὶ θήλεος γόνου

     Kambúsea tòn Kúrou, […] ápaida tò parápan eónta érsenos kaì thḗleos gónou

     Cambyses son of Cyrus, who was altogether childless, without male or female issue.

2. of or belonging to women, womanly, feminine
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 6.122:

     ὥς τέ με κουράων ἀμφήλυθε θῆλυς ἀϋτή

     hṓs té me kouráōn amphḗluthe thêlus aütḗ

     There rang in my ears a womanly cry, as of maidens.

3. soft, gentle
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 5.467:

     μή μ’ ἄμυδις στίβη τε κακὴ καὶ θῆλυς ἐέρση

     mḗ m’ ámudis stíbē te kakḕ kaì thêlus eérsē

     I fear that together the bitter frost and the gentle dew may overcome me.

4. tender, delicate
   • 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 928:

     γυνὴ δὲ θῆλυ κἀπὶ δακρύοις ἔφυ

     gunḕ dè thêlu kapì dakrúois éphu

     But a woman is by nature delicate and prone to tears.

5. female having an internal socket, into which another part fits
   • ante 177 CE, Pollux, Onomasticon 2.180
   • 93 CE – 94 CE, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 3.6.3
6. (grammar) feminine
   • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 682
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Poetics 1458a.10
7. (mathematics) even
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 264a
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Moralia 288d
8. (astrology) negative or feminine sign (one of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, or Pisces)
9. abundant

Inflection

This is one of the two non-compounded adjectives in -ύς, -εῖα, -ύ, along with ἥμισυς (hḗmisus), that have a recessive accent. See also ἐλαχύς (elakhús), λιγύς (ligús).

Antonyms

• ἄρσην (ársēn)

Derived terms

See also

• Negative sign on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• “θῆλυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “θῆλυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “θῆλυς”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• θῆλυς 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
• θῆλυς in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “θῆλυς”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2338 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • female idem, page 315.
  • feminine idem, page 315.
  • sex idem, page 759.
  • tender idem, page 861.
• θῆλυς - ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ (since 2011) Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch) University of Chicago.