κοῖλος

Forms

κοῖλος (koîlos) m (feminine κοίλη, neuter κοῖλον); first/second declension^[1] Aeolic and Ionic κοίϊλος;^[2] κόϊλος in Anacreon.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱowilos, from *ḱewH- (“hollow”).^[1][4] In Homer the form can or must be read with three syllables, ⟨κόϊλος⟩, which points to *κόϝιλος (kówilos), a derivative with the suffix *-lós from the root also found in κόοι (kóoi, “the cavities of the earth”) (Hesychius).^[4] The root is reconstructed with a laryngeal because of κύαρ (kúar, “eye of a needle”), from *ḱuH-r.^[4] Wiktionary adds that it may be the same as *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”).^[1]

Cognate with Latin cavus (“hollow”), Middle Irish cúa (“hollow”), Proto-Germanic *hula- (in Old Norse holr and Old English hol, whence English hole and English hollow) and Sanskrit शून्य (śūnyá, “empty, zero”).^[4][1] Albanian thellë (“deep”) may go back to the same form as the Greek word, as Pedersen proposed, or be a loan from Greek.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means hollow: it is a standing epithet of ships in the Iliad (1.26), and the Odyssey uses it of the Trojan horse as a “hollow ambush” (4.277) and of caves; a grave is a hollow trench (Iliad 24.797).^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From hollow objects the word passed to places: valleys lying between mountains, low-lying or sunken roads and rivers, and, as a neuter noun, a hollow or valley.^[3] Polybius and Plutarch use Κοίλη Συρία, “hollow Syria”, for the inland region of the Levant, perhaps first the valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges.^[3] The hollow of a ship was its hold, in Herodotus, Xenophon and Demosthenes.^[2][3] It was also used of concave shields and beaches, of a cupped hand, of a stormy sea with deep troughs between the waves, and of an open battle formation.^[3]

The combining form English coelo- comes from a Latin spelling of κοῖλος.^[6] Modern Greek κοίλος (koílos) is a learned word taken from it.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad calls ships hollow, and the Odyssey uses it of the Trojan horse.^[5][2]
• 6th century BC – Anacreon has the form κόϊλος.^[2][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the hollow of a ship for its hold.^[2][8]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of Argos, lying in the hollow of a gulf.^[3][8]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius names the region of Koile Syria.^[3][8]
• Modern Greek – κοίλος is a learned word.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Hollow, having a cavity inside; of ships;^[3] (as a noun) the hold of a ship, a cavity.^[3][2]
2. Deep, capacious.^[3]
3. Of a battle formation, open.^[3]
4. Of places, lying in a valley;^[3] (as a noun) a valley, dale.^[3]
5. Κοίλη Συρία, Koile Syria, the inland region of the Levant.^[3]
6. Of a stormy sea, sunk low between the waves.^[3]
7. Of roads, rivers and places, low-lying, sunken;^[3] (as a noun) a hollow in the ground.^[3]
8. Curving inwards, concave; of a hand, cupped.^[3]

Word family

• κοιλαίνω (koilaínō)
• κοιλία (koilíā)

Related words

• Latin cavus
• English coelo-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge