λαμπάς

Forms

λᾰμπᾰ́ς (lampás) f (genitive λᾰμπᾰ́δος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine”) + -άς (-ás, “noun suffix”), a noun from the verb of shining.^[1][2][3] Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the nasal present, and he gives the poetic adjective “lit by torches” in Sophocles as a use of the same word.^[2]

The verb itself has no secure etymology.^[2] Beekes and Wiktionary compare Hittite 𒆷𒀊 (lapp-, “to glow, flash”), which has no nasal, and Baltic words for a torch such as Latvian lāpa, which point to Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to shine”), but the nasal in the Greek present is hard to explain and Beekes doubts that the comparison proves an Indo-European origin.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aeschylus, where it means a torch and, in the Agamemnon, a beacon fire.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek the torch was above all a ritual object, carried in processions, Bacchic dances and the Eleusinian Mysteries.^[3][4] It also named the Athenian torch race, a relay in which the torch was handed from runner to runner: Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato use it in this sense, and Plato compares the passing on of life from one generation to the next to the passing of the torch.^[4][3] Poets called the sun a torch, and Euripides used the plural of lightning flashes.^[4][3] Aristotle and later writers used it of a meteor.^[4][3]

In Hellenistic Greek it came to mean any light: a bundle of burning wood in Polybius, a lamp in the Septuagint, and in the Gospel of Matthew oil lamps, though some scholars take the word there as wedding torches.^[4][6] Latin borrowed it as lampas.^[7] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a large candle, and figuratively for a radiantly beautiful woman.^[8] The Modern Greek form λαμπάδα (lampáda) is built on the old accusative and means a tall candle, such as those lit at Easter.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for torches and for the beacon fire of the Agamemnon.^[4][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Parmenides calls the sun a torch.^[4][3][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the torch race.^[4][3][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato compares the handing on of life to the torch passed in the race.^[4][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of a meteor.^[4][11]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of a burning bundle of wood.^[4][11]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew uses it for oil lamps.^[4][6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for a large candle.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A torch, especially one carried in a religious procession or rite.^[4][3]
2. A beacon fire.^[4][3]
3. The torch race, a relay race in which a torch was passed between runners.^[4][3]
4. (poetic) The light of the sun, or a flash of lightning.^[4][3]
5. A meteor or fireball.^[4][3]
6. (Koine) Any light, a lamp; in the New Testament an oil lamp.^[4][6][3]

Adjective

1. (poetic) Torch-lit, of the shores of Eleusis during the Mysteries.^[4][3]

Word family

• λαμπαδηφόρος (lampadēphóros)
• λαμπάδιον (lampádion)
• λαμπαδοῦχος (lampadoûkhos)
• λαμπαδάρχης (lampadárkhēs)
• λαμπαδεία (lampadeíā)
• λαμπαδηδρομία (lampadēdromíā)
• λαμπαδίας (lampadíās)
• λαμπαδιστής (lampadistḗs)
• λαμπαδοφόρος (lampadophóros)

Related words

• λάμπω (lámpō)
• λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr)
• Latin lampas

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge