Etymologically
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κοῖλος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /kôi̯.los/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈcy.los/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈcy.los/[1]

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)
  • 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