λίπος

Forms

λῐ́πος (lípos) n (genitive λῐ́πους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *lípos, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick; fat substance”).^[1][2] Beekes treats it as an s-stem created in Greek beside the old adverb λίπα (lípa, “richly, with oil”) and the adjective λιπαρός (liparós, “fat, gleaming”).^[2] It looks like Sanskrit रेपस् (répas-, “stain, dirt”), as the adverb looks like रिप् (rip-, “defilement”), but these may be independent formations.^[2][3] The verbal root appears in लिम्पति (limpáti, “to smear”) and Lithuanian lìpti (“to stick”), and with another sense in Old High German bilīban (“to remain”); ἀλείφω (aleíphō, “to anoint”) is unrelated.^[2][3] A Byzantine etymologicum explained it as having “too much fat”, from λίαν (lían) and πίων (píōn).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Sophocles' Antigone it is the glistening fat of blood: in the Antigone the birds are gorged with the fat and blood of a corpse.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses it for animal fat, lard and tallow, and Sophocles, Theophrastus and Callimachus for the oil of the olive and other plants, used to anoint the hair.^[5][6] It also occurs in the Hippocratic writings.^[7]

The Modern Greek λίπος (lípos) is learned, for the fat of the body; its use for any fatty substance is a semantic loan from French graisse and English fat.^[8]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of the fat of blood.^[5][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of a corpse's fat and of olive oil.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for animal fat.^[5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of vegetable oil.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Animal fat, lard, tallow.^[5]
2. Glistening fat of blood or flesh.^[6][5]
3. Vegetable oil, used for anointing.^[5][6]

Word family

• λιπώδης (lipṓdēs)

Related words

• λίπα (lípa)
• λιπαρός (liparós)
• λιπαίνω (lipaínō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki