Etymologically
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κλείω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /klěː.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈkli.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈkli.o/[1]

Forms

κλείω (kleíō) [1] Ionic and epic κληΐω (aorist ἐκλήϊσα), Old Attic κλῄω, Doric (Theocritus) κλᾴζω; late κλῄζω.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “key, bolt”), older κλῄς (klḗis), epic and Ionic κληΐς (klēḯs).[2][4] The noun is an enlargement of a stem in -ῑ- that still shows in the verb κληΐω (klēḯō).[2] Debrunner, cited by Chantraine, held that the old denominative was rather κληΐζω (klēḯzō), and the present in -ίω a remake on its aorist.[2][4] Beekes traces the noun to Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“lock, hook”), which also gave Latin clāvis (“key”) and clāvus (“nail”).[2] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Hellenic *klāyyō and compares claudō (“to shut”).[1] Slavic Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ, “key”) points to a variant *kleu-.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Odyssey has the Ionic aorist ἐκλήϊσα for shutting doors.[3]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it is to shut or block (Thucydides of shutting the harbour entrances with ships), to shut in or enclose a city, and to confine; it was used most often with a prefix: ἀπο-, κατα-, συγ-.[3][2] In the New Testament it is shutting doors and gates, and figuratively shutting the sky so that no rain falls.[5]

Medieval Greek remade it as κλείνω on the aorist stem κλεισ-, and this is the modern verb Modern Greek κλείνω (klíno).[6][7]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses the Ionic aorist for shutting doors.[3]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for blocking harbour entrances with ships.[3]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for shutting doors, gates and the sky.[5]
  • Middle Ages – The vernacular remakes it as κλείνω.[6][7]
  • Modern Greek – κλείνω (klíno) means to close.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shut, close, block up (a door, a strait, a harbour).[3][5]
  2. To shut in, enclose (a city with towers).[3]
  3. To confine, or in the passive to be held fast.[3]
  4. To deliver someone bound into another's hands.[3]

Word family

  • ἀποκλείω (apokleíō)
  • ἐγκλείω (enkleíō)
  • ἐκκλείω (ekkleíō)
  • κατακλείω (katakleíō)
  • παρακλείω (parakleíō)
  • περικλείω (perikleíō)
  • συγκλείω (sunkleíō)
  • ἐπικλείω (epikleíō)
  • κλειστός (kleistós)
  • κλεῖθρον (kleîthron)
  • κλείς (kleís)
  • κλοιός (kloiós)

Usage notes

Epic κλείω is also a separate verb, a form of κλέω (kléō) “to celebrate, make famous”, and in LSJ an epic form of καλέω (kaléō) “to call”.[3][2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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 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 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
  6. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr