Etymologically
Log in

αὐλός

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 20:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /au̯.lós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /aˈβlos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /aˈvlos/[1]

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)
  • 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