δολιχός

Forms

δολῐχός (dolikhós) m (feminine δολῐχή, neuter δολῐχόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dl̥h₁gʰós (“long”), the Indo-European word for “long”.^[1][2][3] Cognate with Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrghá, “long”), Old Church Slavonic длъгъ (dlŭgŭ), Lithuanian ìlgas (with an unexplained loss of the d-), Hittite talugi- and perhaps Albanian gjatë (“long”).^[2][3][4] Further related are Latin indulgeō (“to be kind, indulgent”) and, within Greek, ἐνδελεχής (endelekhḗs, “continuous”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is used of long spears (Iliad 4.533) and of time, a long night or a long illness (Odyssey 23.243, 11.172); the neuter is an adverb, “for a long time” (Iliad 10.52).^[5][6][7] A long voyage or road (Odyssey 3.169, 4.393) joins both senses.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It remained a poetic word: Hesiod, Aeschylus, Pindar and Bacchylides use it of spears and of long journeys, and the Alexandrian poets of oars, a beach, a headland or an inscription.^[7][3] Chantraine notes that μακρός (makrós) competed with it and drove it out.^[3] The noun δόλιχος (dólikhos), with the accent moved back, was the long race, probably of six stadia as opposed to the single στάδιον (stádion), and also the name of a bean plant in Theophrastus.^[3]

Modern Greek uses δόλιχος, a learned borrowing, for the endurance race of the ancient games.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of long spears, the Odyssey of a long night.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of spears.^[7][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus and Pindar use it of a long journey.^[7][4]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of oars.^[7][4]
• Modern Greek – The noun δόλιχος names the ancient endurance race.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Long (of spears, oars, a beach, a headland).^[7][5]
2. Of a journey or voyage, long, covering a great distance.^[7][5]
3. Of time, long; the neuter as an adverb, “for a long time”.^[7][6]

Word family

• δολίχαυλος (dolíkhaulos)
• δόλιχος (dólikhos)
• δολιχόσκιος (dolikhóskios)

Related words

• ἐνδελεχής (endelekhḗs)

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki