κλάω

Forms

κλᾰ́ω (kláō) ^[1] Aorist ἔκλασα, epic κλάσα; passive aorist ἐκλάσθην, perfect κέκλασμαι.^[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because the uniform verbal system built on ⟨κλα(σ)-⟩ has no matching formation outside Greek and cannot be derived from an Indo-European *klas-.^[4][1] It was traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat, break”), the root of Lithuanian kálti (“to forge, hammer”) and Latin percellō (“to beat down”), but the verbs in those languages are formed quite differently.^[1][4][5] Chantraine holds that it is certainly related to κλάδος (kládos, “branch”), and connects κλῆμα (klêma, “vine twig”), κόλος (kólos) and κλῆρος (klêros).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad an arrow-shaft breaks off, and in the Odyssey Odysseus breaks a leafy branch from a bush.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

It has many prefixed forms, such as ἀνακλάω (anakláō) “to bend back”, used technically of the reflection of light, and the frequent κατακλάω (katakláō).^[5] Aristotle and the mathematicians used the passive for a line broken or deflected at a point and for visual rays, and Theophrastus for pruning the shoots of the vine.^[3] In the New Testament it is the breaking of bread, by which the head of the household began the meal; the phrase was used of Jesus' meals and of the meals of the first Christians.^[7][8]

Later and Byzantine Greek formed a new present κλάνω (klánō),^[5][9] and Modern Greek κλάνω (kláno) means “to break wind”.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of breaking a shaft and a branch.^[3][2]
• 6th century BC – Anacreon has an athematic participle ἀποκλάς (apoklás).^[4][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the passive of broken lines and deflected rays.^[3][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for breaking off vine shoots.^[3][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for breaking bread.^[7][3]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has the new present κλάνω (klánō).^[9]
• Modern Greek – κλάνω (kláno) means “to break wind”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To break off, of a branch or shoot; to prune vines.^[3][2]
2. To break in two or in pieces; especially to break bread.^[2][7]
3. (geometry, optics) To deflect, to draw a line broken at a point; passive, of rays, to be deflected.^[3]
4. (passive) Of the course of a comet, to be erratic, not straight.^[2]

Word family

• ἀνακλάω (anakláō)
• κατακλάω (katakláō)
• κλάσις (klásis)
• ἄκλαστος (áklastos)
• κλάσμα (klásma)
• κλάστης (klástēs)
• κλαστός (klastós)

Related words

• κελεός (keleós)
• κλάδος (kládos)
• κλαμβός (klambós)
• κλῆμα (klêma)
• κλῆρος (klêros)
• κλών (klṓn)
• κόλαφος (kólaphos)
• κολοβός (kolobós)
• κόλος (kólos)

Usage notes

A separate word κλάω, with long ⟨ᾱ⟩, is the Attic form of κλαίω (klaíō, “to weep”).^[3][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon 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 c d 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
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος