λόφος

Forms

λόφος (lóphos) m (genitive λόφου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lobʰo- (“crest, top”).^[2] Beekes accepts the comparison with Tocharian A lap (“head”), if the Greek word first meant "crest, crown".^[2][1] Wiktionary also compares Proto-Slavic *lъbъ (“skull”), but Beekes rejects it, since that word points to *lubʰ-.^[2][1] Because Alcaeus and Herodotus call the helmet crest a Carian invention, Schulze took λόφος in that sense as a Carian loan, distinct from λόφος "neck", which Beekes calls untenable.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on.^[2][4] In the Iliad it is the withers of a horse, the nape of a man's neck and the horsehair crest of a helmet, and in the Odyssey the crest of a hill.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense "neck" lived on mostly in figures: in Sophocles the neck bears the yoke of submission.^[5][6] The helmet crest, and the crest of birds and the cock's comb, came from the same idea of the topmost part.^[6][2] Herodotus uses it for the hairstyle of a Libyan tribe, a strip left on a shaved head.^[6] The sense "hill" is the only one in Pindar and became the common one in prose.^[5][6]

In Modern Greek λόφος (lófos) is a low hill, lower than a mountain, and also a plume on a helmet or cap.^[7][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a horse's withers, the neck and a helmet crest.^[5][6]
• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for the crest of a hill.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Simonides uses it for the crest of a lark.^[6][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus reports that the Carians invented helmet crests.^[2][9]
• Modern Greek – It is the word for a hill.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The neck and upper back of an animal; the withers of a horse.^[5][6]
2. The back of a man's neck, the nape.^[5][6]
3. The crest of a bird; a cock's comb.^[6][2]
4. The crest of a helmet, usually of horsehair.^[5][6]
5. A tuft of hair left on a shaved head.^[6]
6. The crest or ridge of a hill; a hill.^[5][6]

Word family

• ἑπταλόφος (heptalóphos)
• λοφιά (lophiá)
• εὔλοφος (eúlophos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge