κλών

Forms

κλών (klṓn) m (genitive κλωνός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek.^[2] Following Kuiper, he connects it with κλάδος (kládos, “branch”): the nasal would replace the δ of that word, and the vowels α and ω would vary, both features of Pre-Greek, and the suffix of the Hesychian κλῶναξ (klônax) points the same way.^[3][2] He rejects the older derivation from a form with the stem of κλάω (kláō, “to break”), because a sprout is hardly something “broken”.^[2]

That derivation is still given by Babiniotis, who traces the word to the Indo-European root for “break, strike”, and Pokorny lists κλών under that root.^[4][5] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain but probably related to the words for “branch” and “break”.^[1] Scarborough's database rates the Pre-Greek view as very reliable.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 5th-century BC tragedy: in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus the branches wreathed with wool for a libation, and in the Antigone the boughs of trees that bend before a torrent and so are saved.^[7][8][9][4]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy the branch is often a suppliant's or one laid on an altar or tomb, as in Euripides.^[8] Plato, Xenophon, Theophrastus and Plutarch use it of twigs and shoots generally.^[7][8] In the Septuagint it renders a branch in the Book of Job, and the physician Paul of Aegina uses it for a thread of byssus.^[7][10]

Greek formed many diminutives from it, such as κλωνίον (klōníon) in Theophrastus and κλωνάριον (klōnárion) in the Geoponica.^[7][2] The diminutive survives as κλωνάρι (klonári), a young twig, and κλώνος (klónos), a large branch, is a Hellenistic back-formation from κλωνίον.^[11] Medieval vernacular Greek used κλώνος for a branch and figuratively for maidenhood.^[12]

English formed clone from a Latinized form of the word in 1903, first for a group of plants grown from one original.^[13] Modern Greek has taken the English sense back as a learned κλώνος, “clone”.^[13][11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of branches, often those of suppliants.^[7][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it of twigs.^[7][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it and its diminutive in his botanical works.^[7]
• 7th century AD – Paul of Aegina uses it for a thread of byssus.^[7][14]
• 10th century AD – The Geoponica has the diminutive that Modern Greek keeps.^[7][11]
• 1903 – English forms clone from it.^[13]
• Modern Greek – The words κλωνάρι (klonári) and κλώνος (klónos) continue it.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A twig, sprig or young branch of a tree; a shoot.^[7][8][2]
2. Such a branch carried by a suppliant or laid on an altar or tomb.^[8]
3. (medicine) A thread or fibre of byssus.^[7]

Word family

• κλωνίον (klōníon)
• κλωνίδιον (klōnídion)
• κλωνάριον (klōnárion)
• κλωνίσκος (klōnískos)
• κλῶναξ (klônax)
• κλωνίζω (klōnízō)

Related words

• κλάδος (kládos)
• English clone

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge