εἰλύω

Forms

εἰλῠ́ω (eilúō) ^[1]

Etymology

In Beekes's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *welu- (“to envelop, cover”).^[2] The stem is shown by Hesychius' gloss γέλουτρον (géloutron, “pod”), that is *ϝέλυτρον (*wélutron), which matches Sanskrit वरुत्र (varutra-, “upper garment”) exactly.^[2][3][4]

In theory the present could continue *ϝελνύω (*welnúō) and so match Sanskrit वृणोति (vṛṇóti, “covers”), from Proto-Indo-European *wl̥-né-u-ti, but the Greek present is late and rare, and the Sanskrit root had an initial laryngeal, so Beekes finds this unlikely.^[2][4] He and Chantraine think the present was made from the more common perfect εἴλυμαι (eílūmai), from *ϝέϝλυμαι (*wéwlūmai), which also gave the future, the aorist and many nouns.^[2][3]

The two-syllable stem ϝελυ- (welu-) of the aorist ἐλύσθη (elústhē, “rolled”) is also found in Old Armenian գելում (gelum, “to turn”) and Latin volvō (“to roll”), and an iterative of it in Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (walwjan) and Old English wealwian (“to revolve”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is used mostly in the passive perfect, ‘wrapped, covered’: shoulders wrapped in cloud, everything covered with sea foam (Iliad 5.186, Odyssey 5.403).^[5][6] The active appears once: “I will wrap him up in sand” (Iliad 21.319).^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The Homeric aorist passive ἐλυσθείς (elustheís) means ‘curled up, crouching’: crouching before Achilles' feet, or curled up under a ram's belly.^[5][6] After Homer the passive meant ‘to crawl, drag oneself along’: in Sophocles the lame Philoctetes creeps along dragging his foot, and the comic poet Metagenes uses it of a shoal of fish.^[6][4] Aratus has the active of a mist that enfolds something, and Theocritus a participle meaning ‘crouching’.^[6]

Herodotus has the compound κατειλύω (kateilúō) ‘to cover over’, and the stem gave nouns such as ἔλυτρον (élutron) ‘covering, case’ and εἴλυμα (eíluma) ‘wrapper’.^[2][4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for wrapping and covering, and the aorist for crouching.^[5][6]
• 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Apollo uses the participle εἰλυμένος ‘wrapped’.^[7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the compound κατειλύω (kateilúō), and Sophocles the passive for crawling.^[2][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Metagenes uses it of a swarming shoal of fish.^[6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Aratus uses the active for mist that enfolds, and Theocritus the participle for crouching.^[6]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses the aorist active of the compound with κατα-.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To enfold, wrap up, cover.^[6][5]
2. (passive) To be wrapped, covered.^[6][5]
3. (aorist passive) To curl up, crouch; to roll.^[5][6]
4. (passive, after Homer) To crawl, wriggle along; of fish, to swarm.^[6][2]

Word family

• ἔλυτρον (élutron)
• εἰλυθμός (eiluthmós)
• εἴλυμα (eíluma)
• εἴλυσις (eílusis)
• ἐξειλύω (exeilúō)
• κατειλύω (kateilúō)
• συνειλύω (suneilúō)

Related words

• Latin volvo

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux