Xenos (Greek)

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Xenos (Greek ξένος, xénos, plural xenoi) is a word used in ancient Greek from Homer onwards that has a wide gradient of meaning, signifying such divergent concepts as “enemy stranger” as well as “ritual friend”.

[edit] Meanings

Xenos can be translated to both foreigner (in the sense of a person from another Greek state) as well as a foreigner or traveler brought into a relationship of long distance friendship.

Xenos can also be used simply to assert that someone is not a member of your community, that is simply foreigner and with no implication of reciprocity or relationship.

The ambiguity of the meaning of xenos is not a modern misunderstanding, but was infact present in ancient Greece. Sophocles uses the vagueness of the word xenos in his tragedy Philoctetes , with Neoptolemus using the word exclusively for Philoctetes to indicate the uncertain relationship between the two characters.

Xenos can be used to refer to guest-friends who's relationship is constructed under the ritual of xenia. In this usage it is commonly translated as "guest-friend" to distinguished it from the Greek word philos, which was used to refer to local friends and to relatives not strictly bound by xenia.

[edit] References

Belfiore, Elizabeth (1993). "Xenia in Sophocles' Philoctetes". The Classical Journal 89 (2): 113 - 129. Retrieved on 2006-10-23. (subscription required)