κλαγγή

Forms

κλᾰγγή (klangḗ) f (genitive κλᾰγγῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

In function it is the verbal noun from Ancient Greek κλάζω (klázō, “to make a sharp sound, scream”),^[2][3][1] whose present can go back to a form with -y- made from a root noun, perhaps seen in a rare dative of this word in Ibycus; the verb can also be read as an old nasal present that took its ending from verbs of sound such as ὀλολύζω (ololúzō).^[2][3][4] The aorist κλαγεῖν (klageîn) and the perfect κέκληγα (kéklēga) may keep forms without the nasal.^[2][4]

The closest match outside Greek is Latin clangō (“to clang, scream”), with which Old Norse hlakka (“to cry”) may agree.^[3][2][4] The words belong to a widespread group of sound words.^[3] Chantraine thought the same base might have given καλέω (kaléō, “to call”) and κέλαδος (kélados, “noise”), but Beekes rejects this; he notes that no Indo-European form can produce the Greek stem and asks whether the basic form is Pre-Greek.^[4][3] Babiniotis and the Etygram database treat it as onomatopoeic.^[5][6]

The grammarian Philoxenus derived it from κράζω (krázō, “to scream”), changing /r/ into /l/ and adding letters.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on for any sharp, piercing sound: the twang of Apollo's bow in the first book of the Iliad, the cry of cranes, the shouting of the advancing Trojans, the squealing of swine in the Odyssey and the cry of the dead, likened to that of birds.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed mostly poetic.^[2] Later poets used it of the howling of wolves and lions in the Homeric Hymns, of the hissing of snakes in Pindar and Aeschylus, of the scream of the Harpies in Apollonius Rhodius, and of the baying of hounds in Xenophon's treatise on hunting.^[8][9] It was also used of music and song: of stringed instruments in Telestes, of a song in Sophocles' Trachiniae, and of Cassandra's prophetic cries in Aeschylus' Agamemnon.^[8][4][9]

Modern Greek κλαγγή (klangí) is a learned revival that names the clash of iron weapons, especially swords, as in the phrase for the outbreak of fighting, “the clang of arms is heard”.^[10][5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of the twang of a bow and of the cry of cranes and of men; the Odyssey of swine and of the shades of the dead.^[7][8]
• 6th century BC – Ibycus has the rare dative κλαγγί.^[2][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of the hissing of snakes, and Aeschylus of Cassandra's prophecies.^[8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Telestes uses it of musical instruments, and Xenophon of the baying of hounds.^[8][9]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius Rhodius uses it of the scream of the Harpies.^[8][9]
• 1st century BC – The grammarian Philoxenus derives it from κράζω (krázō).^[6]
• Modern Greek – The learned κλαγγή (klangí) names the clash of weapons.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sharp, piercing sound; the cry or scream of birds, especially cranes, and of the Harpies.^[8][9][7]
2. The cry of animals: the squealing of swine, the howling of wolves and lions, the baying of hounds, the hissing of snakes.^[8][9]
3. The confused shouting of a crowd or of men in battle; the cry of the spirits of the dead.^[7][9]
4. A loud vocal sound of singing or lamentation; a shriek.^[9][8]
5. The twang of a bow; the sound of a stringed instrument.^[7][8][9]

Word family

• κλαγγηδόν (klangēdón)
• κλαγγώδης (klangṓdēs)
• κλαγγαίνω (klangaínō)

Related words

• κλάζω (klázō)
• κλώζω (klṓzō)
• Latin clangō
• Latin clangor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki