XENOS (GREEK)

'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”.

Contents

Meanings

References

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 in fact 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 whose relationship is constructed under the ritual of xenia ("guest-friendship"). In this usage it is commonly translated as "guest-friend" to distinguish it from the Greek word ''philos'', which was used to refer to local friends and to relatives not strictly bound by xenia.

References

'Xenia in Sophocles' Philoctetes', , Elizabeth, Belfiore, The Classical Journal, 1993 (subscription required)