λυγίζω

Forms

λῠγίζω (lugízō); future λυγίσω, aorist ἐλύγισα, aorist passive ἐλυγίσθην, perfect middle-passive λελύγισμαι.^[1][2] Doric future infinitive λυγιξεῖν and aorist passive ἐλυγίχθην, both in Theocritus.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek λύγος (lúgos, “withe, chaste tree”) + -ίζω (-ízō), so “to bend like a withe”.^[3][4][5]

Beekes takes λύγος (lúgos) as a verbal noun, probably from Proto-Indo-European *leug- (“to bend, twist”), and compares Lithuanian lùgnas (“supple”), Old Norse lykna (“to bend the knee”), Latin luxus (“sprained”) and luctor (“to wrestle”).^[5][6] Chantraine adds Old High German loc (“lock of hair”) and says that luctor matches some uses of the Greek verb well, though its dental is not explained.^[7] Beekes suggests that λυγίζω, attested later than the noun, kept something of the original meaning “turning, bending”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Sophocles' Women of Trachis, of the ankle joint at the point where it turns in its socket.^[8][4][9]

Semantic evolution

In Aristophanes' Wasps a dancer twists his sides: πλευρὰν λυγίσαντος ὑπὸ ῥώμης, “as he twisted his flank with force”.^[3][4] The Hippocratic writers use the perfect participle of twisted sinews, and Galen speaks of twisted joints.^[3] The middle meant to bend aside to dodge a blow, in Eupolis and Plato, and figuratively Sophocles has someone twist about with his tales.^[3][4] It was a wrestlers' word for twisting an opponent and throwing him, as in Lucian, and Theocritus uses it of a lover who wrestles Eros down, or who is himself mastered by love.^[3][4][8]

Aelian uses it of modulating a song, and Antipater of Thessalonica of the artful turns of verse.^[3][8] It was also used of training vine shoots.^[2] The verb lived on in medieval Greek, and Modern Greek λυγίζω (lygízo), also λυγώ, means to bend and, figuratively, to overcome or to give way.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses the passive of a turning joint.^[8][4][13]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Mochlicon speaks of twisted sinews.^[3][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of a dancer twisting his sides.^[3][4][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the middle of twisting aside.^[3][4][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of being mastered by love.^[3][4][13]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of wrestlers twisting each other.^[3][13]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it of modulating a song.^[3][13]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek keeps the verb.^[10]
• Modern Greek – λυγίζω (lygízo) means to bend and to overcome.^[11][12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bend or twist, as one does a withe.^[3][4]
2. (wrestling) To twist an opponent; to throw or master him; figuratively, to overcome.^[3][4]
3. (of song) To modulate.^[3][1]
4. (middle) To bend oneself, twist aside so as to dodge a blow; figuratively, to twist about in what one says.^[3][4]
5. (passive, of a joint) To turn in its socket.^[4][8]
6. (passive) To be thrown or overcome.^[3][4]

Word family

• λυγισμός (lugismós)
• λύγισμα (lúgisma)
• λυγιστικός (lugistikós)

Related words

• λύγος (lúgos)
• λυγόω (lugóō)
• Latin luctor
• Latin luxus

References

1. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
2. ^ a b Montanari, Franco (2015), The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
13. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge