λούω

Forms

λούω (loúō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash, bathe”).^[1][2] LSJ and Chantraine take it as contracted from λοέω (loéō), whose uncontracted forms Homer still has.^[3][4] Beekes explains the epic aorist λοέσσαι (loéssai) as of the type of κορέσαι (korésai), and the present λούω as formed from the contracted aorist λοῦσαι (loûsai); the shorter Homeric forms point to an older thematic present with /w/.^[2]

The vowel of that present matches Latin lavō (“to wash”), whose /a/ Vine explains from prefixed forms; Old Armenian լոգանամ (loganam, “to bathe”) may belong here too.^[2][1] Celtic and Germanic have nouns of the same shape: Old Irish lóathar (“basin”), Old Norse lauðr (“lye, soap foam”) and Old English lēaþor (“soap foam”), which may be the same formation as λοετρόν (loetrón, “bath”).^[2][1] Mycenaean Greek re-wo-to-ro-ko-wo, the word that Homer has as λοετροχόος (loetrokhóos, “bath-pourer”), and Mycenaean Greek re-wo-te-re-jo have /e/ in the root, which is thought to be the original vowel; the Homeric forms would then be due to metathesis.^[2][4]

Benveniste and Sturtevant connected Hittite lāḫu-i (“to pour”), taking “to pour” as the first sense of the root;^[4] Beekes rejects this, since the Hittite verb points to Proto-Indo-European *leh₂u-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to wash or bathe a person, often as a duty to a guest or as a rite of purification, and also a corpse or horses; in the middle, to bathe oneself, as in a river.^[5][6][3] The Iliad uses it of a star that rises “bathed in Ocean” (5.6).^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod and Herodotus use the middle of washing one's own body, and Herodotus the passive of land “washed” by Zeus, that is, by rain.^[5] Callimachus and Theocritus “bathe” weapons in blood.^[5]

The Septuagint has it about fifty times, for washing a person or thing and, in the middle, for bathing (“he shall wash his body in water”, Leviticus 14:9).^[8] In the New Testament it is used of washing a corpse (Acts 9:37), of washing the wounds of men who had been flogged (Acts 16:33) and of one who “has bathed” (John 13:10).^[9]

In Medieval Greek it was remodelled as Modern Greek λούζω (loúzo), on the stem of the aorist, and this is the Modern Greek verb for washing the hair or the whole body.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of washing a person, a corpse or horses.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses the middle of washing one's body.^[5][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the passive of land washed by rain.^[5][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus and Theocritus use it of bathing weapons in blood.^[5][13]
• Medieval Greek – It is remodelled as λούζω, the Modern Greek verb.^[10][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wash, bathe (a person, a part of the body, a corpse, animals).^[5][3][9]
2. (middle) To bathe oneself, take a bath; to wash one's body.^[5][9]
3. (middle) Of a star, to dip into Ocean.^[5]
4. (figurative) To bathe (weapons in blood).^[5]

Word family

• ἀπολούω (apoloúō)
• ἐκλούω (ekloúō)
• καταλούομαι (kataloúomai)
• περιλούω (periloúō)
• συλλούομαι (sulloúomai)
• ἐπιλούω (epiloúō)
• προλούω (proloúō)

Related words

• ἀπόλουσις (apólousis)
• λοῦμα (loûma)
• λοῦσις (loûsis)
• λουτήρ (loutḗr)
• λουτιάω (loutiáō)
• λούτριον (loútrion)
• λουτρόν (loutrón)
• λουτρόομαι (loutróomai)
• λουτρών (loutrṓn)
• λουτρωνικός (loutrōnikós)
• Latin lavō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
13. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge