The adjective ηπιος (epios) means favorable, well-disposed, gentle, kind or friendly (1 Thessalonians 2:7 and 2 Timothy 2:24 only). It's common in the classics and is used to describe the kindness or gentleness or placidness or people in positions of power (the monarch), or the gods. Words could be kind or gentle, and so could feelings or inclinations. Heat and cold so described were not extreme or vehement but mild, and such drinks were mild in taste. A day so described would be a good day to begin a new activity: a day without distractions or obligations.

The origin of this curious word is entirely obscure (it has nothing to do with our English word "pious", which shares its root with "pure"). Our word appears in several self-explanatory compounds — ηπιοχειρ (epiocheir), with gentle hand; ηπιοθυμος (epiothumos), gentle of mood; ηπιοφρεν (epiophren), gentle minded — and derivations — επιοω (epioo), to feel relieved, to be softened; επιοτης (epiotes), gentleness — but how it ended up in the Greek language is a mystery. A link with επι (epi), meaning on or upon, is out of the question because ηπιος (epios) has by no means an domineering or overbearing sense to it (plus we would have seen more similarly meaning variants spelled with an ε rather than an η).

Emile Boisacq (Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque, 1907-1916) declares the etymology of our word unknown. Robert Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, 2010) is slightly more confident and points to a Sanskrit group of words that contain the element "api-" meaning friend, which are used in significantly similar ways in the Rigveda as our epios-words are in Homer. Particularly the phrase πατηρ ως ηπιος (pater os epios), like a friendly father, or as a father so friendly, is reported to occur in both (for Homer that would be Il.24.770). Because of this Greek-Sanskrit link, a Proto-Indo-European root has been proposed, but no attestations beyond these two have been found.

Here at Abarim Publications we don't know either, of course, but as we frequently point out, the Semite peoples (the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Akkadians) were into information technology the way Italians are into pasta. The Semites gave the world the alphabet and their influence on the Indo-European language basin is much stronger than is commonly appreciated (see our article on the many Hebrew roots of the Greek language).

Whether our adjective ηπιος (epios) is indeed Semitic is by no means clear, but the Hebrew verb חפץ (hapes), means to take delight in or be pleased with, the derived noun חפץ (hepes) means delight, and the adjective חפץ (hapes) means delighting in. These words occur in contexts that are certainly not dissimilar to the sentiment expressed in the phrase πατηρ ως ηπιος (pater os epios), as a father so friendly. In Hebrew lore, it is used to describe an emperor delighting in pretty pageanteers (Esther 2:14), king Saul delighting in young David (1 Samuel 18:22), and even God delighting in David (2 Samuel 22:20).