λοβός

Forms

λοβός (lobós) m (genitive λοβοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2] Beekes finds a link with German Lappen (“piece, rag”) and Old English læppa (“tip, lap”) (with ēar-læppa (“earlobe”)) attractive in meaning, while the vowel of Latin labāre (“to waver”) does not match.^[2] Because all these words have an Indo-European */b/, which was rare, he takes them to come from a European substrate.^[2] Wiktionary tentatively derives it from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely”), with the cognate Proto-Germanic *lappaz (“flap, lobe”).^[1]

Ancient writers explained it from touching: Soranus derived it from λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”), because people touch the earlobe when they call someone to witness, and others from λώβη (lṓbē, “outrage”), because the lobe was cut off to dishonour someone.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Iliad (14.182) uses it for the lobe of the ear, “well pierced” for wearing earrings.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Aeschylus, Euripides and Plato use it for a lobe of the liver, which diviners examined closely, and Aeschylus once for the liver itself.^[5][6] In medicine it is a lobe of the lung, or in a Hippocratic work the whole lung.^[5] Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Galen use it for the pod or seed capsule of leguminous plants, especially beans that were eaten pod and all.^[5][2] The Septuagint uses it in the sacrificial laws of Exodus for the tip of the ear and the lobe of the liver.^[7]

Late Latin took it over as lobus (“hull, husk, pod”), and through Medieval Latin it gave the English word lobe, first recorded in the early 15th century of a lobe of the liver or lungs.^[8] In Modern Greek λοβός (lovós) is a learned word, the lower part of the ear and a lobe of an organ.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the lobe of the ear.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the lobe of the liver examined in divination.^[5][6][11]
• 5th century BC – A Hippocratic work uses it for the lung.^[5][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the pods of leguminous plants.^[5][2][11]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a lobe of the lung.^[5][11]
• Early 15th century – The English word lobe, taken from it through Latin, is first recorded.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned anatomical term.^[9][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The lobe of the ear.^[5][6]
2. A lobe of the liver, important in divination, and in poetry the liver itself.^[5][6]
3. (medicine) A lobe of the lung; the whole lung.^[5]
4. (botany) The pod or capsule of leguminous plants.^[5][2]
5. The white part of a rose petal.^[5]

Word family

• ἐλλόβιον (ellóbion)
• ἐπιλοβίς (epilobís)
• λόβιον (lóbion)
• πρόλοβος (prólobos)

Related words

• ἔλλοβος (éllobos)
• Latin lobus
• English lobe

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
4. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge