λήγω

Forms

λήγω (lḗgō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sleh₁g- (“to come to an end”).^[2] The double ⟨λλ⟩ of the Homeric ἄλληκτος (állēktos) “unceasing” and of the aorist καταλλήξειαν (katallḗxeian) points to an older root ⟨*σλήγ-⟩, and the verb is a thematic root present.^[3][4] LIV sets up a root aorist behind ἔλληξα (éllēxa);^[2] Beekes allows *sleh₂g- as well as *sleh₁g-, but no verb outside Greek matches it.^[3][4]

Within Greek it is compared with words for slackness in ⟨λαγ-⟩, such as λαγαρός (lagarós) “slack, hollow” and λαγγάζω (langázō) “to slacken”, and outside Greek with Latin langueō (“to be faint”) and Old Norse slókr (“idler”).^[3][4][1] Beekes notes that the alternation of a long vowel in ⟨ληγ-⟩ with a nasal in ⟨λαγγ-⟩ could instead be a Pre-Greek feature, as in μηχανή (mēkhanḗ) beside μάγγανον (mánganon).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it both as a transitive verb, to stay or check something (Idomeneus did not slacken his fury; to stay one's hands from slaughter), and more often as an intransitive verb, to leave off or cease, with a genitive of the thing stopped or with a participle.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical poetry and prose it is mostly intransitive: people cease from strife, anger or weeping, and winds and rain abate.^[5][6] The grammarians used it of a word that ends in a given sound, and the Stoics called the consequent of a conditional τὸ λῆγον, opposed to the antecedent.^[5]

Modern Greek uses it as a learned word, Modern Greek λήγω (lígo), “to come to an end, expire”, also of a word ending in a sound.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of checking one's fury and of ceasing from an action.^[5][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of ceasing.^[5][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of ceasing from lamentation.^[5][9]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus uses τὸ λῆγον for the consequent in logic.^[5][9]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it of a word's ending.^[5][9]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned verb meaning “to end, expire”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To stay or check: to restrain one's fury or one's hands from something.^[5][6]
2. (intransitive) To cease, leave off, stop, with a genitive of the activity or with a participle.^[5][6]
3. Of wind, rain or feelings, to abate.^[6]
4. (grammar) Of a word, to end in a given sound.^[5]
5. (logic) To follow as a consequence, hence τὸ λῆγον, the consequent.^[5]

Word family

• ἀπολήγω (apolḗgō)
• ἐκλήγω (eklḗgō)
• καταλήγω (katalḗgō)
• ἐλλήγω (ellḗgō)
• ἐπιλήγω (epilḗgō)
• μεταλήγω (metalḗgō)
• παραλήγω (paralḗgō)
• συλλήγω (sullḗgō)
• ὑπολήγω (hupolḗgō)

Related words

• ἄληκτος (álēktos)
• λῆξις (lêxis)
• Latin langueō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge