Etymologically
Log in

κλείς

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 19:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /klěːs/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈklis/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈklis/[1]

Forms

κλείς (kleís) f (genitive κλειδός); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *klāwī́ds,[1] a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“nail, pin, hook”).[1][2] Epic and Ionic κληΐς (klēḯs) and Doric κλᾱΐς (klāḯs) are enlargements of an ī-stem *kleh₂u-iH-, the stem also seen in κληΐω (klēḯō) “to shut”;[2][3] Doric also has a form in -κ-, κλᾴξ (klā́ix).[2][3] The Attic accusative ⟨κλεῖν⟩ was made on the model of ναῦς (naûs), accusative ⟨ναῦν⟩.[2][3]

The nearest cognates are Latin clāvus (“nail”) and clāvis (“key”), and perhaps claudō (“to shut”).[2][3][4] Old Irish cló (“nail”) may be inherited or borrowed from Latin, and Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ, “key”) points to a related form.[2][1] Beekes thinks the first meaning was “nail, pin, hook”, the things used of old to fasten doors.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean has the compound Mycenaean Greek ka-ra-wi-po-ro, “key-bearer”.[2][3] In Homer it is the bar or bolt of a door, the hook passed through the door from outside to work the bolt, the tongue of a brooch, the collar-bone, and in the plural the rowing benches.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Attic Greek it became the key in the modern sense, from Aeschylus and Lysias on;[4][5] Menander mentions a “Laconian key”.[4][5] Pindar has Tranquillity hold the keys of councils and wars, and a “key on the tongue” meant silence; later it was the key to a problem.[4][5] Herodotus calls a headland the “keys” of Cyprus, and Euripides the Bosporus the key to the Black Sea.[5] The sense “collar-bone” was kept in medicine and zoology, by Hippocrates and Aristotle.[4]

In the New Testament it is the key of the Kingdom of Heaven and the key of knowledge.[5][7] Aramaic borrowed the word, and through it Arabic;[1] Persian کلید (kelid), whence Turkish kilit, comes from it too.[1] Coptic borrowed it as ⲕⲗⲓⲥ (klis), first in a manuscript of about 900.[8]

Medieval and Modern Greek use the diminutive κλειδί (kleidí), from κλειδίον (kleidíon); one of its learned senses is a semantic loan from French clef.[9]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean (Linear B) – Tablets have the compound Mycenaean Greek ka-ra-wi-po-ro, “key-bearer”.[2][3]
  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for a door bar, the collar-bone and rowing benches.[4][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus and Pindar use it of a key, also figuratively.[4][5][10]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a headland, the “keys” of Cyprus.[5][10]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Lysias uses it of a house key.[4][10]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the collar-bones in his anatomy.[4][10]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.[5][7]
  • Modern Greek – The diminutive Modern Greek κλειδί (kleidí) replaces it.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bar or bolt of a door; the hook passed through the door to work the bolt.[4][5]
  2. A key, to a house, a chest, or the Kingdom of Heaven.[5][4]
  3. (figurative) A key to councils, wars or marriage; a means of access, as a headland or strait that commands a sea.[5][4]
  4. The hook or tongue of a clasp; a stopcock.[4][5]
  5. The collarbone.[4][5]
  6. A thole-pin; in the plural, the rowing benches of a ship.[5][4]

Word family

  • κλειδίον (kleidíon)
  • ἀνάκλεις (anákleis)
  • κλειδᾶς (kleidâs)
  • κλειδοποιός (kleidopoiós)
  • κλειδόω (kleidóō)
  • ἄκλειστος (ákleistos)
  • κλεῖθρον (kleîthron)
  • κλειθροποιός (kleithropoiós)
  • κλεινία (kleinía)
  • κλεισιάδες (kleisiádes)
  • κλεῖσις (kleîsis)
  • κλεῖσμα (kleîsma)
  • κλεισμός (kleismós)
  • κλειστός (kleistós)
  • κλεῖστρον (kleîstron)
  • κλείω (kleíō)
  • Latin clāvis
  • Latin clāvus
  • English clavicle

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e f 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 e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
  7. ^ a b 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. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge