αὐλή

Forms

αὐλή (aulḗ) f (genitive αὐλῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative with an *-l- suffix of the stem seen in ἰαύω (iaúō, “to sleep, spend the night”), like its doublet αὖλις (aûlis, “place for passing the night”).^[2][3][4] In Beekes's view the stem is from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to pass the night”), and Wiktionary reconstructs a form with the suffix *-leh₂.^[4][1] Cognate with Old Armenian աւթ (awtʻ, “place to spend the night”).^[2][1] Tocharian words for “companion”, such as Tocharian A olar, have been compared as formed with the same suffix.^[2][1]

Chantraine shows that every word of this group refers to spending the night in the open, from which come the senses of a fold for cattle, a camp, a lodging and a courtyard.^[2] Despite the similar sound it is unrelated to αὐλός (aulós, “pipe”).^[1] Athenaeus wrongly explained it as a place through which the wind blows, as if from the word for “pipe”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the open court in front of a house, and also the fenced yard where cattle are kept at night.^[5][6] The Odyssey uses it of the court of Zeus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the open yard before a house the word came to mean the courtyard or quadrangle round which a house was built, in Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato.^[5] Tragedy widened it to any dwelling or chamber: Sophocles uses it of a cave and of the homes of country people.^[5][2]

In Menander and Polybius the word means a ruler's court, and “those around the court” were the courtiers; the derivative αὐλικός (aulikós) is used only of a prince's court.^[5][2] Inscriptions use it for the court of a temple, and so do the Septuagint and Revelation for the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem.^[5][7] In the Gospels it is the courtyard of the high priest's house and the fold of the sheep.^[7] It was borrowed as Latin aula (“court, hall”).^[8][1]

Modern Greek αυλή (avlí) continues the ancient word for the yard of a house, and has the court of a monarch from Hellenistic Greek.^[9] It was borrowed into Ottoman Turkish, and through it into Albanian, Bulgarian and other Balkan languages.^[1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the court before a house and of a fold for cattle.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Aristophanes use it of an inner courtyard.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of any dwelling, and of a cave.^[5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander uses it of a ruler's court.^[5][2]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Eleusis uses it of the court of a temple.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it of the high priest's courtyard and of a sheepfold.^[7]
• Modern Greek – αυλή (avlí) means a yard and a royal court.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An open court in front of a house; a courtyard.^[5][10]
2. A fenced yard for cattle; a fold.^[5][7]
3. A court or quadrangle round which a house is built.^[5]
4. Any court or hall; the court of a temple; a dwelling or chamber.^[5]
5. A country house.^[5]
6. The court of a ruler; with the article, the courtiers.^[5][2]

Word family

• αὔλιον (aúlion)
• αὐλικός (aulikós)
• ἔπαυλις (épaulis)
• αὐλαία (aulaíā)

Related words

• ἰαύω (iaúō)
• αὖλις (aûlis)
• αὐλίζομαι (aulízomai)
• Latin aula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press