κύλινδρος

Forms

κῠ́λῐνδρος (kúlindros) m (genitive κῠλῐ́νδρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek κυλίνδω (kulíndō, “to roll”), with the suffix -ρος (-ros).^[2][1][3]

The verb's origin is disputed.^[2][4] Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of its suffix -ινδ- (-ind-), found also in the synonyms ἀλίνδω (alíndō) and καλινδέομαι (kalindéomai); he judges it hardly Indo-European.^[2][5] Frisk also calls the -νδ- element obscure.^[6] The verb is most often connected with κυλλός (kullós, “crooked, lame”) and a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“bent”),^[2][6] while Taillardat, cited by Chantraine, compares κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”) and the root *kʷel- (“to turn”),^[4] which Babiniotis also gives.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is a fragment of Democritus (fr. 155), in the 5th century BC, where it is a roller or cylinder.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Besides the geometric solid, the word named anything that rolls: a rolling stone or runaway boulder (Chrysippus, Apollonius of Rhodes), and a child's marble (Galen).^[7][9] In mechanics and building it was a roller or pivot (Athenaeus Mechanicus, an inscription of Delos), and Archimedes wrote a work on the sphere and the cylinder.^[7] A rolled book was also a κύλινδρος, as in Diogenes Laertius.^[7]

It was borrowed as Latin cylindrus,^[10] which gave French cylindre.^[11] English cylinder (late 14th century, first a cylindrical portable sundial) comes from both.^[12] Modern Greek κύλινδρος (kýlindros) keeps the geometric sense and that of a papyrus roll; its sense of an engine cylinder and other machine parts is a semantic loan from French.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Democritus uses it for a roller or cylinder.^[2][7][8]
• 3rd century BC – Archimedes writes on the sphere and the cylinder.^[7][8]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of a rolling boulder.^[7][9][8]
• 2nd century BC – Athenaeus Mechanicus uses it of a roller in a siege machine.^[7][8]
• 3rd century AD – Diogenes Laertius uses it of a roll of a book.^[7][8]
• Late 14th century – English cylinder is first recorded, from French and Latin.^[12]
• Modern Greek – The word names the geometric solid and, after French, an engine cylinder.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rolling stone, a runaway boulder; a tumbler.^[7][9]
2. A child's marble.^[7]
3. A roller, and (geometry) a cylinder.^[7]
4. A pivot.^[7]
5. A roll of a book, a volume.^[7]
6. A cylindrical container.^[9]

Word family

• κυλινδρικός (kulindrikós)
• κυλίνδριον (kulíndrion)
• κυλινδρίσκος (kulindrískos)
• κυλινδρόω (kulindróō)

Related words

• κυλίνδω (kulíndō)
• ἀλίνδω (alíndō)
• Latin cylindrus
• English cylinder

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com