λήγω
Pronunciation
- 5th-century BC Attic: /lɛ̌ː.ɡɔː/[1]
- 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈli.ɣo/[1]
- 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈli.ɣo/[1]
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
- (transitive) To stay or check: to restrain one's fury or one's hands from something.[5][6]
- (intransitive) To cease, leave off, stop, with a genitive of the activity or with a participle.[5][6]
- Of wind, rain or feelings, to abate.[6]
- (grammar) Of a word, to end in a given sound.[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
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
- ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge