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λύσις

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word λύσις

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
700s BC Homer, Iliad More words from the 8th century BC
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *leuH-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek λύω (lū́ō)
Ancient Greek λύσις (lúsis)
Latin lysis
English lysis
From the same root
Ancient Greek ἀναλύω (analúō) ← λύω
Ancient Greek διαλύω (dialū́ō) ← λύω
Ancient Greek καταλύω (katalū́ō) ← λύω
Ancient Greek παραλύω (paralúō) ← λύω

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lý.sis/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈly.sis/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈly.sis/[1]

Forms

λῠ́σῐς (lúsis) f (genitive λῠ́σεως); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek λύω (lū́ō, “to loosen, release”) with the suffix -σις (-sis).[1][2] Its short /u/ agrees with the old root aorist λύτο (lúto), and the verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leuH- (“to cut off, release”).[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the ransoming of Hector's body, and in the Odyssey a means of escape from death.[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

From "loosing, release" the word developed many senses: Hesiod and Theognis speak of release from strife, debt and poverty, and Sophocles of the release of a fleet to sail home.[2][6] In religious language it was deliverance from guilt by expiatory rites (Sophocles, Plato).[2][6] Plato used it for the parting of soul and body at death and for the dissolution of a state, and Attic law for the redemption of mortgaged property.[2][6]

Aristotle made it a technical term: the solution of a difficulty or problem, the refutation of an argument, and the dénouement of a tragedy, opposed to δέσις, the complication.[2][6] Grammarians and metricians used it for the resolution of one vowel or long syllable into two, physicians for the remission of a fever, and the New Testament for release from marriage.[2][7] Medieval Greek kept the word, and Modern Greek λύση (lísi) "solution" is a learned form of it.[8][9][10] English took lysis in 1902 for the dissolution of cells, and -lysis as a word-forming element, from it.[11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of ransoming a body, the Odyssey of escape from death.[5][2]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod speaks of release from strife and debts.[2][6]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of expiation from guilt.[2][6]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato calls death the parting of soul from body.[2]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the solution of a problem and the dénouement of a plot.[2][6]
  • 1st century AD – Paul uses it of release from a wife.[7][2]
  • 1902 – English lysis is first recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Loosing, release; the ransoming of a captive or a corpse.[2][6]
  2. Deliverance or escape from death, strife, debts, sorrows and the like.[6][2]
  3. Release from guilt by expiatory rites, absolution.[2][6]
  4. (law) Redemption of mortgaged property; discharge from an obligation.[2][6]
  5. Parting, separation (of soul from body); dissolution of a state, of laws, of a marriage, and (New Testament) release from marriage.[2][6][7]
  6. (medicine) Evacuation of the bowels; remission of a fever.[2]
  7. The solution of a difficulty or problem; the refutation of an argument.[2][6]
  8. The dénouement of a tragic plot.[2][6]
  9. (grammar, metre) Resolution of a vowel or a long syllable into two.[2]
  10. A resting place (for a meal).[2][6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Λύσις.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BB%CF%8D%CF%83%CE%B9%CF%82. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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