This may interest you. Charles Lee Irons, makes this observation “But what about the etymological argument that the –genēs portion of monogenēs comes from genos (“kind”) rather than gennao (“beget”)? This argument collapses once it is recognized that both genos and gennao derive from a common Indo-European root, ǵenh (“beget, arise”).[4] This root produces a fair number of Greek words having to do with biological concepts of begetting, birth, and offspring. In fact, the word genos itself sometimes means “descendant” (Rev. 22:16). True, it can also mean “kind” in a scientific or classification sense where literal biological descent is not in view (e.g., “different kinds of languages” [1 Cor 14:10]). But the scientific or classification usage is a metaphorical extension of the literal biological sense, since the abstract concept of “kind” is modeled on the embodied biological experience of the similarities shared by offspring descended from a common parent.” (Charles Lee Irons, Let’s go back to ‘only-begotten’,
Let’s Go Back to ‘Only Begotten’, 23rd November 2016)
A friend of mine wrote me the following...
Some months ago I came across a website called ‘Ask a Greek’. Its proprietor, Mr. Harry Foundalis Ph. D, offers to answer questions regarding the Greek language. Those who are interested will find it here
Ask a Greek! I took this opportunity to ask Mr. Foundalis the meaning of monogenes. After all, I reasoned, he is Greek, and by the look of his website, a person very well versed in linguistics. After a series of emails in which he explained that monogenes definitely conveys the idea of only-begotten/only-born etc, he replied to a question I had asked concerning the relationship of the words ginomai (as mentioned above) and monogenes. Here is what he wrote “Some linguistic information regarding the Greek word “monogenes” (μονογενής) follows: Monogenes” consists of two parts: the prefix “mono-” and the suffix “-genes”
The meaning of the prefix “mono-” is: “single”, “alone”, “only”. This prefix is found in English words such as: “monophonic” (of a single auditory source), “monochromatic” (of a single color), “monologue” (a soliloquy), “monopoly” (having exclusive control of a market) “monosyllabic” (of a single syllable), “monotheistic” (of belief in a single god/God), “monotonous” (of a single, unvarying tone, hence: boring), and many more, all ultimately of Greek origin. The meaning of the suffix “-genes” is: “born”, “begotten”. This can be understood by the following information. The suffix “-genes” (in Greek: “-γενής”) consists of two morphemic parts: the root “-gen-” (“-γεν-”) and the ending “-es” (“-ής”) The role of the ending “-es” is to convert the word into an adjective in the masculine or feminine gender, nominative case, singular, and that is the grammatical role of the word “monogenes”. The root “-gen-” comes from the aorist stem of the verb “ginomai” (that is its Koine Greek version; its Classic Greek version is: “gignomai”), meaning: “I become” and “I am born to”. For instance, the opening line of Xenophon’s “Anabasis” reads: Δαρείου καὶ Παρυσάτιδος γίγνονται παῖδες δύο,... i.e.: Two children are born to Darius and Parysatis,... An explanation of what the aorist stem is follows. Every Greek verb (not only in the ancient but even in the modern language) comes in two “flavors”: the present or progressive flavor, and the aorist or instantaneous flavor. Each of the two flavors is used in the formation of some tenses, in all their moods. The present flavor is used in the present, imperfect, and perfect tenses, whereas the aorist flavor is used in the past and future tenses. For the verb “ginomai”, the present-flavor stem is “-gin-”, whereas the aorist flavor stem is “-gen-”. For example, for this verb, to form the 1st person singular, past tense (a tense properly called “2nd aorist” in this case, for this verb has no 1st aorist form) we need to add three constituents: 1. the “aorist augment” e- (ἐ: a mandatory prefix that signifies past in Greek, and is suspected to have existed in the Proto-Indo-European language), 2. the stem -gen- (-γεν-), 3. and the 2nd-aorist ending -omen (-όμην), thus getting the form egenomen (ἐγενόμην: “I became”, or “I was born”). The aorist stem -gen- has passed, through Latin, into English words, all of which are associated with generation or birth, such as: generate, generation (as in creation), generator genesis (origin, the coming into being, birth) gene (the biological unit by which rebirth is achieved) genetic (“of genes”) genus (a group of entities born from a common source) general (derived from gener-, i.e., “something that creates”) progenitor (a direct ancestor) ... and many more. Perhaps the most interesting observation to help us understand the meaning of the entire suffix “-genes” (“-γενής”) in “monogenes” is to see other Greek words where this suffix exists. Notice how, when added to the prefix, in each case and without a single exception, “-genes” results in the meaning of “born, begotten”. All of the following are adjectives, just like “monogenes”: homogenes (ὁμογενής): someone who was born together (“homo-”) with others: “of the same race or family”. Today, this word is used to mean those Greeks who were born outside of Greece (e.g., in the USA, Australia, Russia, or wherever else in the world) but belong to the Greek nation due to their Greek ancestry. heterogenes (ἑτερογενής): the opposite of homogenes: born of a different (“hetero-”) race or family. eugenes (εὐγενής): born of noble ancestry, hence: noble, an aristocrat. This is the root of the word “eugenics”, the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding. endogenes (ἐνδογενής): someone or something that has been generated from within (“endo-”) some greater whole; endogenous, inherent, intrinsic. A common use is in endogenes aitia = “intrinsic cause”. engenes (ἐγγενής): similar to endogenes, it means “intrinsic”. Again, we can talk of an engenes aitia = intrinsic cause thnisigenes (θνησιγενής): someone or something destined to die (“thnisi-”) no sooner than he/she/it is born. A thnisigenes child is one that is born but has such serious medical problems that the child cannot hope to avoid death.