Etymologically
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βλέφαρον

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /blé.pʰa.ron/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈβle.ɸa.ron/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈvle.fa.ron/[1]

Forms

βλέφᾰρον (blépharon) n (genitive βλεφάρου); second declension[1] Doric (Alcman, Pindar) γλέφαρον (glépharon).[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[4][5][6] Beekes thinks it probably cognate with βλέπω (blépō, “to look”), beside which there is likewise γλέπω (glépō): the variation between /b/ and /g/ and between /p/ and /pʰ/ points, in his view, to a Pre-Greek word, since the labiovelars of the substrate did not always develop like the inherited ones.[4] He allows that the noun and the verb may be unrelated, the noun then being originally *γλέφαρον (*glépharon) and influencing the verb.[4] Frisk does not believe in an original link with the verb, but thinks the noun was associated with it when its plural came to mean “eyes”, which may also have changed its first sound.[5] The DGE calls the origin doubtful and suggests a neuter stem *βλέφαρ (*blephar) from the verb, with an expressive aspirate.[6] Babiniotis gives the same derivation.[7]

Ancient etymologists explained it as the “cloaks” of sight, or from lifting the lids when we look.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it in the plural for the eyelids, above all where sleep falls on them or is poured over them.[3][2][9]

Semantic evolution

Poets used the plural for the eyes themselves, as the seat of tears, sleep and death, and Euripides uses it for the eye of the Cyclops.[2] Sophocles and Euripides use it figuratively for the “eye” of day and of night, and Euripides for sight itself.[2] The derivative βλεφαρίς (blepharís) meant the eyelashes or the lids.[4][5]

In medieval vernacular Greek it meant the eyelid, but also a glance and the forehead.[10] Modern Greek βλέφαρο (vléfaro) continues it for the eyelid.[11][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the plural for the eyelids, where sleep settles.[3][9]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it, with a feminine genitive plural.[2][9]
  • 7th century BC – Alcman uses the Doric form γλέφαρον (glépharon), later also found in Pindar.[2][6]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the eye and for sight, and Sophocles speaks of the eye of day.[2][6]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses the singular for one eyelid.[2]
  • Middle Ages – Vernacular texts use it for the eyelid, a glance and the forehead.[10]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek βλέφαρο (vléfaro) is the word for the eyelid.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The eyelid; mostly in the plural, the eyelids.[3][2]
  2. (poetic) The eye or eyes, as the seat of tears, sleep and death.[2][3]
  3. (figurative) The eye of day, that is, the sun; of night, darkness.[2]
  4. The capacity to see, sight.[2]
  5. (Christian) Probably an eyelash.[12]

Word family

  • βλεφαρίς (blepharís)
  • βλέπω (blépō)
  • Modern Greek βλέφαρο (vléfaro)

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  8. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  9. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  10. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ 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