αὐλός

Forms

αὐλός (aulós) m (genitive αὐλοῦ); second declension^[1] Mycenaean au-ro, and the compound a-pa-u-ro.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *aulós,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlós (“tube, hollow, channel”).^[1][3] Beekes notes that all the cognates, formed with a suffix in /l/, name hollow or tube-shaped things: Lithuanian aũlas (“leg of a boot”), Old Prussian aulis (“shin”), Hittite auli- (“tube-shaped organ in the neck”) and, with the sounds reversed, Latin alvus (“belly, cavity”).^[3][2][4] Chantraine also compares Lithuanian avilys (“beehive”), first the hollow of a tree where a swarm settles.^[4]

Beekes and Chantraine point out that the pair of αὐλός and its Lithuanian match is paralleled by καυλός (kaulós) “stalk” beside Lithuanian kaulas (“bone”); the DGE explains the stalk word from the same root.^[3][4][2]

Ancient grammarians derived the word from αὔω (aúō) “to shout” or from ἄω (áō) “to blow”, because the pipe makes a sound.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested in Mycenaean as Mycenaean Greek au-ro.^[2] In Homer it is the pipe, and also a hollow tube: the socket of a spear-head or helmet, the grooves of a brooch in the Odyssey, and a jet of blood through the nostril.^[6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

The instrument it names was a reed pipe with a double reed, more like an oboe than a flute, usually played in pairs;^[7][4] Herodotus already distinguishes men's and women's pipes, and poets name Lydian, Phrygian and Libyan ones.^[7][4][6] From the music came αὐλέω (auléō) “to play the pipe”, αὐλητής (aulētḗs) “piper” and many compounds.^[8][9]

The general sense “tube” stayed alive in technical language: Thucydides and the Hippocratic writers use it for the pipe of a bellows, Aristotle for the tube of a water-clock, the blowhole of whales and dolphins and the funnel of a cuttlefish.^[6][4] By comparing the race course to a long hollow, Greek formed δίαυλος (díaulos), the double course of the stadium.^[4] In the Septuagint and in the First Epistle to the Corinthians it is the flute beside the lyre.^[10]

Modern Greek αυλός (avlós) is a learned word: the ancient pipe, regarded as the ancestor of the shepherd's pipe and the flute, and, as a semantic loan from French tube, a tube in a machine.^[11]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – Linear B tablets have Mycenaean Greek au-ro.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it of pipes heard in the camp and of the socket of a spear-head; the Odyssey of the grooves of a brooch.^[6][7]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it of a straw for drinking.^[7][2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus distinguishes men's and women's pipes;^[6] Thucydides uses it of the pipe of a bellows.^[6][7][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the blowhole of cetaceans and the funnel of the cuttlefish.^[6][2]
• 1st century AD – The First Epistle to the Corinthians names the flute beside the lyre.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek αυλός (avlós) names the ancient pipe and a technical tube.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The aulos, a reed instrument like an oboe, usually played in pairs;^[7][4] commonly translated “flute” or “pipe”.^[7][6]
2. A hollow tube or pipe: the pipe of a bellows, the tube of a water-clock, a straw for drinking.^[6][7]
3. The socket of a spear-head; the groove of a brooch.^[7][6]
4. (figurative) A jet or stream of blood.^[7][6]
5. (zoology) The blowhole of cetaceans, the funnel of a cuttlefish, a duct.^[6]
6. A race course, a stadium.^[6]
7. Cowbane, Cicuta virosa.^[6][3]

Word family

• ἄναυλος (ánaulos)
• αὐλέω (auléō)
• αὐλίσκος (aulískos)
• αὐλοποιός (aulopoiós)
• αὐλών (aulṓn)
• αὐλῶπις (aulôpis)
• δίαυλος (díaulos)
• δολίχαυλος (dolíkhaulos)
• ὅμαυλος (hómaulos)
• πάραυλος (páraulos)
• πλαγίαυλος (plagíaulos)
• χοραύλης (khoraúlēs)

Related words

• γίγγρος (gíngros)
• μάρδος (márdos)
• συβήνη (subḗnē)
• σωλήν (sōlḗn)
• καυλός (kaulós)
• ἔναυλος (énaulos)
• Latin alvus

Usage notes

In Aristophanes it stands for the piper girl who plays it.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki