Λύκειον

Forms

Λῠ́κειον (Lúkeion) n (genitive Λῠκείου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a neuter noun from Ancient Greek Λύκειος (Lúkeios), an epithet of Ἀπόλλων (Apóllōn), with “sanctuary” understood: the gymnasium was named after the nearby temple of Apollo Lykeios.^[2][3][4] The meaning of the epithet is uncertain: Wiktionary lists “wolf-killing”, “Lycian” and “luminous” as possibilities.^[1] Etymonline thinks it probably meant, or was understood to mean, “wolfish”, from λύκος (lúkos, “wolf”), and Bailly too derives the name from that word.^[5][6] The foundation legends of the Athenian cult, a plague of wolves and a founder named Lycus, point the same way.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristophanes' Peace and in Xenophon's Hellenica, of a gymnasium at Athens.^[2][3][7] Hesychius says that it was built under the supervision of Pericles and that military reviews and assemblies were held there.^[8] The Suda adds that armed parades took place there before campaigns, and that Theopompus named Peisistratus as its founder while Philochorus dated it to Pericles.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The Lyceum was a wide, grassy and wooded park southeast of the city, outside the Diochares Gate.^[4] Plato makes it a favourite haunt of Socrates.^[2] Aristotle taught there, and his Peripatetic school, founded in 335/4 BC, was called after it, so that late writers call his followers Λύκειοι (Lúkeioi).^[2][11][3] Sulla destroyed it in 86 BC.^[11] The name was also used of any cult centre of Apollo Lykeios.^[4]

Through Latin Lyceum the name reached English as lyceum in the 1580s, and French gave it to its state secondary schools as French lycée.^[5] Modern Greek λύκειο (lýkeio) is a learned word for the upper secondary school, in this new sense after French lycée.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes' Peace and Xenophon's Hellenica name the gymnasium at Athens.^[2][3][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato makes it a haunt of Socrates.^[2][14]
• 335/4 BC – Aristotle's Peripatetic school is founded there.^[11]
• 86 BC – Sulla destroys the Lyceum.^[11]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius records that military reviews were held there.^[8][14]
• 1580s – English borrows the Latin form lyceum.^[5]
• Modern Greek – λύκειο (lýkeio) names the upper secondary school.^[12][13]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. The Lyceum, a gymnasium and park at Athens, near the temple of Apollo Lykeios.^[2][3][4]
2. The Peripatetic school of Aristotle, which met there.^[3][11]
3. Any sanctuary of Apollo Lykeios.^[4]

Related words

• λύκος (lúkos)
• Latin Lyceum
• English lyceum
• French lycée

Usage notes

The lowercase λύκειον is another spelling of λύκιον (lúkion), a plant name.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Adler, Ada, ed. (1928–1938), Suidae Lexicon, 5 vols, Leipzig: Teubner
10. ^ Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography, ed. David Whitehead et al., Stoa Consortium, https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/
11. ^ a b c d e Pleiades: a gazetteer of past places, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, https://pleiades.stoa.org
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge