λειχήν

Forms

λειχήν (leikhḗn) m (genitive λειχῆνος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick”), meaning literally “the licker”.^[2][3][4] The verb continues Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”).^[2][1]

Cognates of the verb include Sanskrit लेढि (leḍhi), Latin lingō, Lithuanian liežiù, Old Armenian լիզեմ (lizem) and Old English liccian.^[2][1] Zero-grade forms of the same root survive in Greek in λιχανός (likhanós, “forefinger”), λίχνος (líkhnos, “greedy”) and λιχμάομαι (likhmáomai, “to lick”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aeschylus is the first to use it: in the Libation Bearers it names sores on the skin, and in the Eumenides a blight on the land, which makes plants and women barren.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In the Hippocratic writers it names skin eruptions, and Chantraine notes that the diseases it designates are hard to identify.^[5][3] The botanical sense of tree-moss or lichen is implied in Theophrastus by the verb λειχηνιάω (leikhēniáō), said of olive trees covered with lichen.^[5][3] Dioscorides uses it for a liverwort that grows on damp rocks and for the horny callosity on the foreleg of a horse;^[5] it also occurs in the Septuagint and in Galen as a skin disease.^[5] Manuscripts often spell it λιχήν (likhḗn).^[5]

Latin lichen was borrowed from it.^[8]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of skin sores and of a blight on the land.^[5][6][9]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Aphorisms use it of skin eruptions.^[5][7][9]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus implies the sense “lichen” with a derived verb.^[5][3][9]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander names a moss “horse lichen”.^[5][9]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it of a liverwort and of the callosity on a horse's leg.^[5][9]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it of a skin disease.^[5][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Tree-moss, lichen.^[5][2]
2. A kind of liverwort growing on damp rocks.^[5]
3. A lichen-like eruption of the skin; of the ground, a blight.^[5][6]
4. The chestnut, a callosity on the foreleg of a horse.^[5]

Word family

• ἱππολειχήν (hippoleikhḗn)
• λειχηνιάω (leikhēniáō)
• λειχηνώδης (leikhēnṓdēs)

Related words

• λείχω (leíkhō)
• λιχανός (likhanós)
• λίχνος (líkhnos)
• λιχμάομαι (likhmáomai)
• Latin lichen

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 c d e 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge