View source for Xenos (Greek)

{{short description|Greek word meaning roughly stranger}}
{{italic title}}
'''{{Lang|grc-latn|Xenos}}''' ({{etymology|grc|''ξένος'' (xénos)|}}; {{plural form|'''''xenoi'''''}}) is a word used in the [[Greek language]] from [[Homer]] onwards. The most standard definition is 'stranger'. However, the word itself can be interpreted to mean different things based upon context, author and period of writing/speaking, signifying such divergent concepts as 'enemy' or 'stranger', a particular hostile interpretation, all the way to 'guest friend', one of the most hallowed concepts in the cultural rules of Greek [[Xenia (Greek)|hospitality]].

== Meanings ==
{{Lang|grc-latn|Xenos}} can be translated both to '[[Alien (law)|foreigner]]' (in the sense of a person from another Greek state) and to a foreigner or traveler brought into a relationship of long-distance [[friendship]]. ''{{Lang|grc-latn|Xenos}}'' can also be used simply to assert that someone is not a member of one's community, that is, simply a foreigner and with no implication of [[Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)|reciprocity]] or relationship. ''{{Lang|grc-latn|Xenos}}'' generally refers to the variety of what a particular individual can be, specifically guest, host, stranger, friend, and, as previously mentioned, foreigner.

The ambiguity of the meaning of {{Lang|grc-latn|xenos}} is not a modern misunderstanding, but was, in fact, present in ancient Greece.<ref name="Belfiore93">{{cite journal | last = Belfiore | first = Elizabeth | year = 1993 | title = Xenia in Sophocles' Philoctetes | journal = The Classical Journal | volume = 89 | issue = 2 | pages = 113–129 | jstor=3297661}}</ref> [[Sophocles]] uses the vagueness of the word ''{{Lang|grc-latn|xenos}}'' in his tragedy ''[[Philoctetes (Sophocles)|Philoctetes]]'', with [[Neoptolemus]] using the word exclusively for [[Philoctetes]] to indicate the uncertain relationship between the two characters.<ref name="Belfiore93"/> ''{{Lang|grc-latn|Xenos}}'' can be used to refer to guest-friends whose relationship is constructed under the ritual of {{Lang|grc-latn|[[Xenia (Greek)|xenia]]}} ('guest-friendship'). In this usage it is commonly translated as 'guest-friend' to distinguish it from the Greek word {{Lang|grc-latn|philos}}, which was used to refer to local friends and to relatives not strictly bound by {{Lang|grc-latn|xenia}}. The Greeks used this ambiguity because they thought strangers could be gods or goddesses in disguise, so they were always kind and respectful to strangers, because if it was a god, they could be blessed by that god or goddess.

==See also==
*[[Xenia (Greek)|Xenia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Greek words and phrases]]


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