κολώνη

Forms

κολώνη (kolṓnē) f (genitive κολώνης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kolH-on- (“hill”),^[1][2] an old n-stem, as κολωνός (kolōnós) beside it shows, from the root *kelH- (“to rise”).^[2][1] The same n-stem is found in Lithuanian kálnas (“mountain”), Latin collis (“hill”) and Old English hyll, the source of the English word hill.^[2][3] The verb of the root is seen in Lithuanian kélti (“to lift”), which proves a laryngeal at its end.^[2]

The suffix ⟨-ώνη⟩, ⟨-ωνός⟩ probably arose by extending the long vowel of the nominative to the other cases.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning a hill or mound: the Iliad names a steep mound on the plain before Troy and the “hill of Alesion”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Pindar uses it for a hill,^[6] and Sophocles for a burial mound, a barrow.^[6][5] The Hellenistic poets Callimachus and Apollonius Rhodius use it of a mountain, Mount Athos, and later writers such as Dionysius Periegetes of a hilltop or peak.^[6][5] As a place name it was a town in the Troad and an Attic deme.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a hill or mound.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for a hill.^[6][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for a burial mound.^[5][6][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of Mount Athos.^[6][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Dionysius Periegetes uses it for a hilltop or peak.^[5][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hill; a mountain.^[6][5]
2. A mound, especially a burial mound, barrow.^[6][5]
3. A hilltop, peak.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge