βαλανεῖον

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /ba.la.nêː.on/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /βa.laˈni.on/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /va.laˈni.on/^[1]

Forms

βᾰλᾰνεῖον (balaneîon) n (genitive βᾰλᾰνείου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: bathing in warm water was probably an Aegean custom, as the Pre-Greek ἀσάμινθος (asáminthos, “bathtub”) suggests, and the structure of the word, with initial β-, the vowel α and the suffix -αν-, is frequent in Pre-Greek words.^[2][3] Chantraine tried to derive it from βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn”), in the sense “stopper”, which Beekes finds improbable.^[2][1] Furnée compared it with an Old Georgian word for a bathroom.^[1]

Within Greek it is the noun of place of βαλανεύς (balaneús, “bath attendant”), as the ancient grammarian Herodian already explained.^[4][5] Other ancient etymologies derived it from “throwing away sorrows”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An Attic inscription of the 5th century BC mentions a bath-house, and Aristophanes uses the word for the public baths.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In classical Athens it was a public or private bath-house.^[6][4] Isaeus, Plato and Demosthenes mention it, and Theophrastus groups the baths with the anointing rooms.^[6][4] Comedies by Amphis, Timocles and Diphilus were called Balaneion.^[6] In Roman times it named the large public baths, and papyri also use it for private baths in houses.^[6] It could also mean a bath that one takes.^[6] Greek baths were mostly modest and privately owned, unlike the monumental Roman thermae.^[7]

It was borrowed as Latin balineum (“bath”), also balneum, and balineae.^[2][8] The word is still found in medieval Greek.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – An Attic inscription (IG I³ 402) mentions a bath-house.^[6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Isaeus use it for the public baths.^[4][6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus mentions the baths beside the anointing rooms.^[6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for Roman baths.^[6]
• Medieval Greek – It is still used.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bath-house, public or private; often in the plural, the baths.^[4][6][10]
2. (Roman period) The large public baths, the thermae.^[6]
3. A bath that one takes.^[6]

Word family

• βαλανείτης (balaneítēs)
• βαλανεύς (balaneús)
• βαλανευτικός (balaneutikós)
• βαλανεύω (balaneúō)
• βαλανειοφύλαξ (balaneiophúlax)

Related words

• ἀσάμινθος (asáminthos)
• Latin balineum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ 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