λωτός

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /lɔː.tós/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /loˈtos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /loˈtos/^[1]

Forms

λωτός (lōtós) m (genitive λωτοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a Mediterranean word of uncertain origin.^[2][3] Lewy derived it from Hebrew לוֹט (lōṭ), the resin rendered στακτή “oil of myrrh” in the Septuagint, and Wiktionary and Etymonline follow a Semitic source.^[2][3][1][4] Rosół lists this among the rejected Semitic etymologies.^{[2][3][1][4][5]}

Hyllested's reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *lu̯h̥₃-to- rests on too little evidence for a vocalized laryngeal.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is a fodder plant that horses graze, perhaps a trefoil or clover.^[6][7] In the Odyssey it is the fruit of the Lotus-eaters, Λωτοφάγοι (Lōtophágoi), whose taste makes travellers forget their homecoming.^[6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus applies it to the Egyptian water lily of the Nile and to a North African tree whose fruit he identifies with that of the Lotus-eaters.^[7][8] Theophrastus and Dioscorides distinguish several fodder plants (clover, birdsfoot trefoil, fenugreek, melilot), the Nile lotus and its blue species, and the Libyan nettle tree.^[9][2] Because the hard wood of the nettle tree was used for pipes, in Euripides and later poets λωτός is the aulos itself, played at weddings.^[9][8][10]

Aeschylus uses the verb λωτίζομαι (lōtízomai) “to pick the flower, take the best part”, and Euripides ἀπολωτίζω.^[2] Later it named part of a stringed instrument (Sopater) and, in Paul of Aegina, the tube of a vaginal speculum.^[8][1]

English lotus comes from Latin lotus; the sense “Egyptian white lotus” dates from the 1580s.^[4] Modern Greek λωτός (lotós) is learned, partly from the ancient word and partly through New Latin lotus.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – a fodder plant in the Iliad; the fruit of the Lotus-eaters in the Odyssey.^[6][7]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho has the compound μελίλωτος, “melilot”.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the Egyptian water lily.^[7][9][12]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the aulos.^[9][7][12]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus distinguishes several plants of this name.^[9][12]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius mentions the lotus tree.^[7][8][12]
• 1540s – English lotus.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fodder plant: clover, trefoil, fenugreek, melilot.^[7][9][1]
2. The Egyptian lotus or water lily.^[7][9]
3. A North African tree, the nettle tree or the jujube.^[7][9][1]
4. The mythical fruit of the Lotus-eaters.^[7][6]
5. (poetic) A flute of lotus wood, the aulos.^[7][9]
6. Part of a stringed instrument, and (medicine) the tube of a speculum.^[8][1]

Word family

• λώτινος (lṓtinos)
• λωτόεις (lōtóeis)
• λωτάριον (lōtárion)
• λώτισμα (lṓtisma)
• μελίλωτον (melílōton)
• Λωτοφάγοι (Lōtophágoi)
• λωτίζομαι (lōtízomai)

Related words

• English lotus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Montanari, Franco (2015), The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Adler, Ada, ed. (1928–1938), Suidae Lexicon, 5 vols, Leipzig: Teubner
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge