ἀήρ

See also: αήρ and Appendix:Variations of "aer"

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• ἠέρος (ēéros) — Homeric, genitive
• ᾱ̓βήρ (ābḗr) — Doric
• αὐήρ (auḗr) — Aeolic
• ἠήρ (ēḗr) — Ionic

Etymology

Beekes gives Proto-Hellenic *auhḗr (“morning mist”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewsḗr, from *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”). Cognate with αὔρᾱ (aúrā) (< *h₂éwsreh₂), Latin aurōra.^[1] The a was lengthened to ā by compensatory lengthening.

Sihler gives Proto-Hellenic *āwḗr (“morning mist”) but provides no further etymology.^[2][3] See Albanian fjur.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /aː.ɛ̌ːr/ → /aˈir/ → /aˈir/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /aː.ɛ̌ːr/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /aˈe̝r/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /aˈir/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /aˈir/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /aˈir/

Noun

ᾱ̓ήρ • (āḗr) m (genitive ᾱ̓έρος); third declension

1. mist
2. air
3. wind
4. space, volume
5. blue or grey (the colour of the sky)

Inflection

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ὁ ᾱ̓ήρ ho āḗr
Genitive	τοῦ ᾱ̓έρος toû āéros
Dative	τῷ ᾱ̓έρῐ tôi āéri
Accusative	τὸν ᾱ̓έρᾰ tòn āéra
Vocative	ᾱ̓ήρ āḗr
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of ὁ ᾱ̓ήρ; τοῦ ᾱ̓έρος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ᾱ̓ήρ āḗr
Genitive	ἠέρος ēéros
Dative	ἠέρῐ ēéri
Accusative	ἠέρᾰ ēéra
Vocative	ᾱ̓ήρ āḗr
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Third declension of ᾱ̓ήρ; ἠέρος (Epic)

Derived terms

• ἠερόεις (ēeróeis)

Descendants

• Greek: αέρας (aéras), αήρ m (aḯr)
  • → Aromanian: aerã, erã
• → Aramaic:

  Syriac script: ܐܐܪ (ʾāʾar)

• → English: aero-
• → Old Georgian: აერი (aeri)

  Georgian: ჰაერი (haeri)

• → Hebrew: אֲוִיר (ʾăwîr)
• → Latin: āēr (see there for further descendants)

See also

• αἰθήρ (aithḗr)

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ᾱ̓ήρ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 27
2. Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 54
3. Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 284 A

Further reading

• “ἀήρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀήρ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἀήρ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἀήρ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ἀήρ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G109 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ἀήρ in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • air idem, page 21.
  • atmosphere idem, page 49.
  • climate idem, page 137.
  • weather idem, page 971.
• 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
• “ἀήρ”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011