LOGOI

The corpus record

φωνή

phone

oh,-neh, ‘say, voice, sound

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 129 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. φωνή · phōnē — Beekes

φωνή [f.) ‘sound of humans and animals, tone, voice, pronunciation, discourse, speech, uttering’ (IL.). «1ὲ *b"oh,-neh, ‘say, voice, sound’> eVAR Dor. -ά. *COMP φωνασκέω [v.] ‘to train one’s voice, ie. to sound loudly, make much noise as a speaker’ (PL. D., Arist., εἴς), -ασκία [f.] (D., Thphr.), -ασκός [m.] ‘master of speech or songs’ (late). As a second member: ὁμόφωνος ‘having the same voice or speech, … — [Beekes, s.v. φωνή, p. 1652]

2. Φωνή · Phōnē — Chantraine

Φωνή : L., dor. pavé + son de la voix, voix » (Hom., ete.) «cris des animaux (Hom., etc.), «son» en général (S., etc.), + langage » (Hdt., etc.), « phrase, parole» (PI, Plu., etc.), probablement « orthographe » (PL Cra. 398 d). Voir H. Fournier, Les verbes «dire», 1946, 230-231 ; pour les valeurs chez Ρ]., M. Leroy, REG 80, 1967, 234241. Au premier élément de composés, rares exemples : surtout le groupe de φων-ασκός … — [Chantraine, s.v. Φωνή, p. 1257]

3. φωνή · phōnē — Chantraine

φωνή — 1238 — tique (v. Porzig, Salzinhalte 346-347), on s'en tiendra ici à l'explication traditionnelle ; ainsi déjà Chantraine, Morphologie, 6. Il s'agit donc d’un subst. en -v& du type de ποινά, etc., et l'on posera un radical *bhoz,- avec la combinaison assez rare "09,, Chantraine, ἰ. c. ; de même Kurytowiez, Apophonie 186, M. Leroy, REG 80, 1967, 234; en dernier lieu Beekes, Laryngeals 167-168, avec discussion. … — [Chantraine, s.v. φωνή, p. 1258]

4. φωνή · phōnē — Frisk

φωνή, dor. -ά f. "Laut von Menschen und Tieren, Ton, Stimme, Aussprache, Rede, Sprache, Äußerung’ (seit Il.). Als Vorderglied z.B. φων-ασκέω ‘seine Stimme üben, d.h. laut hören lassen, viel Lärm als Redner machen’ (Pl., D., Arist. u.a,; Typ oivo-xoew, πολι-ορκέω, Schwyzer 726) mit -aoxia f. (D., Thphr. u.a.), -ασχός m. ‘Rede-, Singmeister?’ (sp.). Als Hinterglied unbeschränkt produktiv, z.B. ὅμό-ψωνος ‘die gleiche … — [Frisk, s.v. φωνή, p. 2030]

5. φωνή · phōnē — Frisk

φωνή. Zu aksl. zvons usw. (somit evtl. auch zu φωνή) zieht Van Windekens Orbis 11 (1962) 180 und 19 (1970) 110 noch toch. A kam, B kene "Melodie, Ton’ ; Anlaut allerdings mehrdeutig. — [Frisk, s.v. φωνή, p. 2315]

6. φον-ή · phon-ē — LSJ

carnage

carnage, esp. on the field of battle, ἀσπαίροντας ἐν ἀργαλέῃσι φονῇσιν Il. 10.521; ἐν φοναῖς καλῶς πεσόντʼ A. Ag. 447 (lyr.); ἐν φοναῖς πεπτῶτʼ ἄθαπτον S. Ant. 696; ἔτι ἐν τῇσι φονῇσι ἐόντας Hdt. 9.76; κομισθέντα ἐκ τῶν φονῶν Ael. NA 5.1; also of slain beasts, θηρὶ μαχέσσασθαι ἕλικος βοὸς ἀμφὶ φονῇσιν Il. 15.633; ἐν φοναῖς θηροκτόνοις E. Hel. 154.

II blood shed by slaying, in his blood, bloody, bloody, murderously

blood shed by slaying, θῆκέ τʼ Αἴγισθον ἐν φοναῖς laid him weltering in his blood, Pi. P. 11.37, cf. Ael. NA 1.18, 3.21; φονῶν is prob. for φόνων in S. El. 11, Tr. 558; so ἑρπετὰ καὶ δάκετα . . ὑπʼ ἐμᾶς πτέρυγος ἐν φοναῖς ὄλλυται come to a bloody end, Ar. Av. 1070 (lyr., paratrag.); ποίῳ δὲ κἀπελύσατʼ ἐν φοναῖς τρόπῳ; what was the manner of her bloody end? S. Ant. 1314; φοναῖς murderously, ib. 1003 (expld. as Adj. by Sch., cf. φονός).

7. φων-ή · phōn-ē — LSJ

sound, tone, the sound of the voice

sound, tone, prop., the sound of the voice, whether of men or animals with lungs and throat (ἡ φωνὴ ψόφος τίς ἐστιν ἐμψύχου Arist. de An. 420b5, cf. 29, HA 535a27, PA 664b1); opp. φθόγγος (v. φθόγγος II):

I speech, voice, utterance, cry, cry, cries, with his voice, aloud, with, voice, dictated, notes of the voice

mostly of human beings, speech, voice, utterance, φ. ἄρρηκτος Il. 2.490; ἀτειρέα φ. 17.555; φ. δέ οἱ αἰθέρʼ ἵκανεν, of Ajax’ battle-cry, 15.686; of the battle-cry of an army, Τρώων καὶ Ἀχαιῶν . . φ. δεινὸν ἀϋσάντων 14.400: pl., of the cries of market-people, X. Cyr. 1.2.3; ὁ τόνος τῆς φ. Id. Cyn. 6.20, D. 18.280, Aeschin. 3.209; ὀξεῖα, βαρυτέρα, λεία, τραχεῖα φ., Pl. Ti. 67b; φ. μαλακή Ar. Nu. 979 (anap.); μιαρά, ἀναιδής, Id. Eq. 218, 638: with Verbs, φωνὴν ῥῆξαι Hdt. 1.85, Ar. Nu. 357 (anap.);

2 cry, song

the cry of animals, as of swine, dogs, oxen, Od. 10.239, 12.86, 396; of asses, Hdt. 4.129; of the nightingale, song, Od. 19.521; ἄνθρωπος πολλὰς φωνὰς ἀφίησι, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα μίαν Arist. Pr. 895a4.

3 any articulate sound, vowel-sound, sound

any articulate sound, opp. inarticulate noise (ψόφος), φ. κωκυμάτων S. Ant. 1206; ὥσπερ φωνῆς οὔσης κατὰ τὸν ἀέρα πολλάκις καὶ λόγου ἐν τῇ φωνῇ Plot. 6.4.12: στοιχεῖόν ἐστι φ. ἀδιαίρετος Arist. Po. 1456b22; also esp. of vowel-sound, opp. to that of consonants, Pl. Tht. 203b, Arist. HA 535a32; in literary criticism, of sound, opp. meaning, Phld. Po. 5.20 (pl.), 21.

4 sounds

of sounds made by inanimate objects, mostly Poet., κερκίδος φ. S. Fr. 595; συρίγγων E. Tr. 127 (lyr.); αὐλῶν Mnesim. 4.56 (anap.); rare in early Prose, ὀργάνων φωναί Pl. R. 397a; freq. in LXX, ἡ φ. τῆς σάλπιγγος LXX Ex. 20.18; φ. βροντῆς ib. Ps. 103(104).7; ἡ φ. αὐτοῦ ὡς φ. ὑδάτων πολλῶν Apoc. 1.15.

5 sound

generally, sound, defined as ἀὴρ πεπληγμένος, πληγὴ ἀέρος, Zeno Stoic. 1.21, Chrysipp. ib. 2.43.

II faculty of speech, discourse

faculty of speech, discourse, εἰ φωνὴν λάβοι S. El. 548; παρέσχε φωνὴν τοῖς ἀφωνήτοις τινά Id. OC 1283.

2 language

language, Hdt. 4.114, 117; φ. ἀνθρωπηΐη Id. 2.55; ἀγνῶτα φ. βάρβαρον A. Ag. 1051; φωνὴν ἥσομεν Παρνησίδα Id. Ch. 563, cf. E. Or. 1397 (lyr.), Th. 6.5, 7.57, X. Cyn. 2.3, Pl. Ap. 17d, etc.; τῶν βαρβάρων πρὶν μαθεῖν τὴν φ. Id. Tht. 163b; κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν τὴν παλαιὰν φ. Id. Cra. 398d, cf. 409e.

III phrase, saying, formulae

phrase, saying, τὴν Σιμωνίδου φ. Id. Prt. 341b; ἡ τοῦ Σωκράτους φ. Plu. Cons.Apoll. 2.106b, cf. Alex. fort. 330f, etc.; of formulae, στοιχειώματα καὶ φ. Epicur. Ep. 1p.4U., cf. Sent.Vat. 41 (= Metrod. Fr. 59); αἱ σκεπτικαὶ φ. S.E. P. 1.14, cf. Jul. Or. 5.162b, etc.

IV report, rumour

report, rumour, LXX Ge. 45.16.

b message

message, Sammelb. 7252.21 (iii/iv A. D.).

V loud talk, bragging

loud talk, bragging, Epicur. Sent.Vat. 45.

In the wild

6 of 1,219 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

  • Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) Treated in Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) s.v. φωνή (scan pp. 1652-1653; entry #6481). Root candidates: *boni-.
  • Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. φωνή (scan p. 1258; entry #8616). Root candidates: *bher-.
  • Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. φωνή (scan pp. 2030-2031; entry #6024).

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