Etymologically
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λιλαίομαι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /li.lǎi̯.o.mai̯/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /liˈlɛ.o.mɛ/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /liˈle.o.me/[1]

Forms

λῐλαίομαι (lilaíomai) [1]

Etymology

It is a reduplicated present with the suffix *-yeti, reconstructed as *li-lh₂s-ye-ti.[2][3][1] It has been connected with a root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂s- (“to be eager, desire”) (LIV's *las- (“to be unrestrained, greedy”)), with Sanskrit लसति (lasati, “radiates, is pleased”), Latin lascīvus (“wanton”) and Russian ласка (láska, “caress”).[1][4][3] Beekes doubts these comparisons: the Greek nouns he would set beside it, λάσται (lástai, “whores”) (Hesychius) and λάσταυρος (lástauros), have suffixes that point to Pre-Greek;[2] Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (lustus, “lust”) does not belong here because of its vowel.[2] The perfect participle λελιημένος (leliēménos) is a further problem.[3] Ancient grammarians derived it from a verb λῶ (lô, “to wish”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is to long for something or to be eager to do it, with an infinitive or a genitive; a spear “longs to taste flesh”.[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It is an Epic verb, found only in the present and imperfect, in Homer, Hesiod, Apollonius of Rhodes and Theocritus.[6][9] In the Odyssey it is used of a goddess longing for a man to be her husband, and once of struggling towards the light of day.[6][9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for eager desire.[6][7]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony uses it.[8]
  • 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it for being eager for something.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To long, eagerly desire to do something, with an infinitive.[6][9]
  2. To long for something, with a genitive.[6][9]
  3. (figurative) Of a spear, to be eager to taste flesh.[6][7]
  4. To make one's way eagerly to a place.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  9. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press