sthénos
Unknown.[1] The cluster /stʰ/ is unusual for Ancient Greek terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European. However several hypotheses for an Indo-European derivation exist:
- Cognate with Old English stīþ (“hard, cruel, violent”) (English stith (“stiff, hard”))[2]
- Cognate with Proto-Germanic *segaz (“victory”).[2]
- From the zero-grade *sgʷʰ- of a root *segʷʰ- (“to be strong”), whence also Sanskrit सघ्नोति (saghnóti, “to be a match for, be equal to (a task)”), क्षम् (kṣam, “to endure, resist; forgive”) and Avestan 𐬀𐬰𐬔𐬀𐬙𐬀 (a-zg-ata, “irresistible (?)”), plus an uncertain suffix *-énos.[1]
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation
Noun
σθένος • (sthénos) n (genitive σθένεος or σθένους); third declension