γένος

From Proto-Hellenic *génos.^[1] Cognate with Latin genus, Sanskrit जनस् (jánas), Old Armenian ծին (cin), among others; see also γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born”).

γένος • (génos) n (genitive γένεος or γένους); third declension

1. race, stock, kin
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 13.354:

     ἀμφοτέροισιν ὁμὸν γένος ἠδ᾽ ἴα πάτρη

     amphotéroisin homòn génos ēd’ ía pátrē

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. direct descent, as opposed to collateral relationship
      • 4th century BC, Isaeus, Ciron 33:

        γένος γὰρ ἀλλ᾽ οὐχὶ συγγένεια τοῦτ᾽ ἐστίν

        génos gàr all’ oukhì sungéneia toût’ estín

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. offspring, descendant
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.180:

     ἣ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔην θεῖον γένος οὐδ᾽ ἀνθρώπων

     hḕ d’ ár’ éēn theîon génos oud’ anthrṓpōn

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. (collective) offspring, posterity
      • 431 BCE – 404 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.126.11:

        ἐκεῖνοί τε ἐκαλοῦντο καὶ τὸ γένος τὸ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνων

        ekeînoí te ekaloûnto kaì tò génos tò ap’ ekeínōn

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (in general) race of beings
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 12.23:

     ἡμιθέων γένος ἀνδρῶν

     hēmithéōn génos andrôn

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. (the family as considered over time): clan, house, dynasty, lineage.
      • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.35.1:

        Φρὺξ μὲν γενεῇ, γένεος δὲ τοῦ βασιληΐου

        Phrùx mèn geneēî, géneos dè toû basilēḯou

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   2. tribe, nation, race, as a subdivision of ἔθνος (éthnos)
      • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.56.1
   3. caste
      • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.164.1:

        ἔστι δὲ Αἰγυπτίων ἑπτὰ γένεα

        ésti dè Aiguptíōn heptà génea

        The Egyptians are divided into seven classes

   4. breed of animals
      • 460 BCE – 430 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.29
4. age, generation, time of life
   • c. 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 3.215:

     γένει ὕστερος

     génei hústeros

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. sex, gender
   • c. 385 BCE, Plato, Symposium 189d
   1. (grammar) grammatical gender
6. class, sort, kind
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cynegeticus 3.1:

     Τὰ δὲ γένη τῶν κυνῶν διττά

     Tà dè génē tôn kunôn dittá

     The hounds used are of two kinds

   1. (logic) the opposite of εἶδος (eîdos, “species”)
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Metaphysics 1059β.36:

        τὰ γένη δ᾽ εἰς εἴδη πλείω καὶ διαφέροντα διαιρεῖται

        tà génē d’ eis eídē pleíō kaì diaphéronta diaireîtai

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   2. (taxonomy) class
      • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 1.6.490b.7
      1. (taxonomy) genus
         • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 1.1.487b.17:

           τὸ τῶν καρκίνων γένος

           tò tôn karkínōn génos

           (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      2. species of plant; crop, produce; material
         • 371 BCE – 287 BCE, Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum 4.8.13
         • PTeb. 66.43:

           ἄλλοις γένεσι τοῖς πρὸς πυρὸν διοικουμένοις

           állois génesi toîs pròs puròn dioikouménois

           (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   3. element
      • 360 BCE, Plato, Timaeus 54b

• → Aramaic: גניסא, גנסא
• Greek: γένος (génos)

• “γένος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “γένος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• γένος in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• γένος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• Bauer lexicon
• G1085 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• γένος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

From Ancient Greek γένος (génos). Also see γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I am born”).

• IPA^(key): /ʝenos/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: γέ‧νος

γένος • (génos) n (plural γένη)

1. family
2. nation
3. (taxonomy, biology) genus
4. (grammar) gender (masculine, feminine, etc)
5. maiden name, née

   Η Ελένη Παπαδοπούλου, το γένος Μενεγάκη.

   I Eléni Papadopoúlou, to génos Menegáki.

   Eleni Papadopoulou née Menegaki.

• Γένος (βιολογία) on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el