λάκκος

Forms

λᾰ́κκος (lákkos) m (genitive λᾰ́κκου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Hellenic *lə́kwos,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“lake, pond”).^[1][2] Beekes, following Schrijver, would have to start from a zero grade *l̥kʷo- and notes that the change of /kʷ/ to ⟨κκ⟩ is unexpected;^[2] Chantraine finds a form with ⟨κϝ⟩ plausible, comparing ἵκκος (híkkos) beside ἵππος (híppos).^[3]

Greek has an o-stem where western and northern languages have a u-stem: Latin lacus (“lake, pond, pit”), Old Irish loch (“lake, pond”) and Old Saxon lagu (“lake, water”).^[2][3] Babiniotis gives the same comparison.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Herodotus, of a pit or reservoir and of a pond in which water-fowl were kept.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Attic it is above all a storage pit dug in the ground and lined, for water, wine, oil or grain: a cistern or tank in Aristophanes and Demosthenes, pits for wine and grain in Xenophon.^[7][5] Dionysius of Halicarnassus used it to render the Roman Lacus Curtius.^[5]

The Septuagint uses it for the pit into which Joseph is thrown, for a dungeon and for the lions' den, and figuratively for the “pit” of misery and of death in the Psalms; the den of lions recurs in early Christian writers.^[8][5][9] The philosopher Porphyry called the Sea of Galilee a mere “pond” in contempt.^[5]

Medieval Greek used it for a pit, a cistern or well, a ditch or trench and a grave.^[10] Today Modern Greek λάκκος (lákkos) is a hole or pit in the ground and colloquially a grave.^[11] The phrase “the split-pea purée has some hole in it” says that something is fishy.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a reservoir and for a pond for water-fowl.^[5][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for a cistern, Xenophon for storage pits.^[5][7][12]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus renders the Lacus Curtius in Rome as Κούρτιος λάκκος (Koúrtios lákkos).^[5][12]
• 3rd century AD – Porphyry calls the Sea of Galilee a “pond”.^[5][12]
• Medieval Greek – It means a pit, cistern, ditch or grave.^[10]
• Modern Greek – It continues as a word for a pit or hole and, colloquially, a grave.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A storage pit sunk in the ground and lined, for water, wine, oil or grain; a cistern, tank, reservoir.^[7][5]
2. A pond, as one in which water-fowl were kept.^[5][7]
3. (Septuagint) A pit, dungeon or den; figuratively, the pit of misery or death.^[8][5][9]
4. Contemptuously, of the Sea of Galilee.^[5]
5. Κούρτιος λάκκος (Koúrtios lákkos): the Lacus Curtius in Rome.^[5]

Word family

• λακκαῖος (lakkaîos)
• προλάκκιον (prolákkion)

Usage notes

A different λάκκος, the name of a dye, lac, occurs in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.^[2] Beekes takes it as an Indic loanword, from Prakrit, ultimately from the Sanskrit word for lac.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge