κάλως

Forms

κᾰ́λως (kálōs) m (genitive κᾰ́λω or κᾰ́λωος, variously declined); second declension, third declension^[1] Epic and Ionic κάλος; late epic plural κάλωες.^[2][3]

Etymology

It has no etymology and is probably a technical loanword.^[4][5] Beekes marks it as possibly Pre-Greek and calls the Indo-European etymologies proposed for it untenable.^[4] Frisk lists them: a link with Dutch halen (“to pull”) or rather Old High German halōn (“to call, fetch”), and one with κλώθω (klṓthō).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Odyssey, where Odysseus fits the reefing ropes to the sail of his raft.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy and comedy “to let out the reefs” meant to set sail, and “to let out every reef” became a proverb for making every effort, used by Euripides, Aristophanes and Plato.^[2][7] More generally it was any rope or line: Herodotus uses it of a sounding line and a cable, Thucydides of a tow rope, and Lucian of a tightrope.^[2] Modern Greek still has κάλως (kálos) for a thick rope or hawser.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it of the reefing ropes of a sail.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a sounding line.^[2][9]
• 5th century BC – Euripides' Medea has the proverb about letting out every reef.^[2][9]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of towing along the shore.^[2][9]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of tightrope walkers.^[2][9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek κάλως (kálos) means a thick rope.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reefing rope, reef.^[2]
2. A rope, line, cable; a sounding line; a tightrope.^[2]

Word family

• καλῴδιον (kalṓidion)
• καλωστρόφος (kalōstróphos)
• καλοπαίκτης (kalopaíktēs)
• καλύδριον (kalúdrion)

Usage notes

“To let out every reef”, πάντα κάλων ἐξιέναι, was a proverb for trying everything.^[2][7]

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
8. ^ a b Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge