γονή

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• γονᾱ́ (gonā́) — Doric, Lyric

Etymology

From γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born”) +‎ -η (-ē).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ɡo.nɛ̌ː/ → /ɣoˈni/ → /ɣoˈni/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ɡo.nɛ̌ː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ɡoˈne̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ɣoˈni/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ɣoˈni/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ɣoˈni/

Noun

γονή • (gonḗ) f (genitive γονῆς); first declension

1. offspring
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.539
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.755
   • 431 BCE, Euripides, Medea 1136
   • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1192
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 641
   1. (of animals)
      • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Fragments 194
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Fragments 941.10
   2. (of the fruits of the earth)
      • 100 BCE – 1 BCE, Plato, Axiochus 371c
   3. race, stock, family; parentage
      • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1565
      • 429 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1469
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Electra 156
      • 415 BCE, Euripides, The Trojan Women 1290
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 1093–1096:

        οὐκ ἄν ποτ’, ἄνδρες, ἄνδρα θαυμάσαιμ’ ἔτι, / ὃς μηδὲν ὢν γοναῖσιν εἶθ’ ἁμαρτάνει, / ὅθ’ οἱ δοκοῦντες εὐγενεῖς πεφυκέναι / τοιαῦθ’ ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐν λόγοις ἔπη·

        ouk án pot’, ándres, ándra thaumásaim’ éti, / hòs mēdèn ṑn gonaîsin eîth’ hamartánei, / hóth’ hoi dokoûntes eugeneîs pephukénai / toiaûth’ hamartánousin en lógois épē;

        • 1893 translation by Sir Richard Jebb

          Never again, my fellow Salaminians, will I be amazed if some nobody by birth does wrong, when those who are reputed to be born of noble blood employ such wrongful sentiments in their arguments.

      • 413 BCE, Euripides, Ion 328
   4. generation
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.143
      • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 774
      • 472 BCE, Aeschylus, The Persians 818
2. that which engenders, seed
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 733
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.101
     • Herodotus, Histories 3.109
   • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, On Generation 3
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Generation of Animals 1.18
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 7.84
   • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 950
   1. organs of generation (genitalia)
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, On Joints 45
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, On the Instruments of Reduction 1
      1. womb
         • Ruf., Onom. 193
         • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 2.889
         • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 1597
3. act of generation
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Isthmian Ode 7.7
   • 389 BCE – 314 BCE, Aeschines, Collected Works 3.111
   1. (of the mother) childbirth
      • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 355
      • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Theocritus, Collected Works 17.44
   2. (of the child) birth
      • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates of Kos, Epidemics 4.31
      • 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1294
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, On the Universe 399a28
   3. cure for sterility
      • Paul., Aeg. 3.74
4. (Pythagorean nomenclature) unity
   • Theol., Ar. 6

Declension

First declension of ἡ γονή; τῆς γονῆς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ γονή hē gonḗ	τὼ γονᾱ́ tṑ gonā́	αἱ γοναί hai gonaí
Genitive	τῆς γονῆς tês gonês	τοῖν γοναῖν toîn gonaîn	τῶν γονῶν tôn gonôn
Dative	τῇ γονῇ tēî gonēî	τοῖν γοναῖν toîn gonaîn	ταῖς γοναῖς taîs gonaîs
Accusative	τὴν γονήν tḕn gonḗn	τὼ γονᾱ́ tṑ gonā́	τᾱ̀ς γονᾱ́ς tā̀s gonā́s
Vocative	γονή gonḗ	γονᾱ́ gonā́	γοναί gonaí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. There is an additional dative plural form, γοναῖσῐν (gonaîsĭn), attested in Sophocles, Ajax 1094.

Derived terms

• βουγονής (bougonḗs)
• βουγονή (bougonḗ)
• βουγονῐ́ᾱ (bougonĭ́ā)

Further reading

• “γονή”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “γονή”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “γονή”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• γονή in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• γονή in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• γονή in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • age idem, page 18.
  • birth idem, page 79.
  • child idem, page 129.
  • childbed idem, page 129.
  • descendant idem, page 214.
  • family idem, page 305.
  • generation idem, page 356.
  • labour idem, page 472.
  • lineage idem, page 493.
  • offspring idem, page 571.
  • origin idem, page 579.
  • parentage idem, page 592.
  • progeny idem, page 653.
  • race idem, page 667.
  • seed idem, page 749.
  • son idem, page 793.
  • travail idem, page 890.
  • young idem, page 997.