λύχνος

Forms

λῠ́χνος (lúkhnos) m (genitive λῠ́χνου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *luk-s-nos, from the root *lewk- (“to shine”) with the suffix *-sno-.^[1][2][3] The same root gives λεύσσω (leússō, “to see”) and λευκός (leukós, “white”).^[2][3] Words with the same suffix but full grade are Avestan raoxšna- (“bright”), Old Prussian lauxnos (“stars”) and Latin lūna (“moon”).^[2][3] Frisk explains the zero grade of λύχνος by a Greek reluctance to use /ou/ in such forms.^[2][3]

Ancient grammarians derived it from λύω (lúō, “to loosen”) and a word for “night”, as the thing that dissolves the darkness.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs once in Homer: the Odyssey mentions a golden lamp (19.34).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the archaic poets on it is the usual word for a portable lamp, usually of terracotta with oil feeding a wick.^[7][6] Herodotus has the plural λύχνα, and in Attic comedy the plural named the lamp market.^[6] Strabo and Hesychius use it for a fish, like Latin lucerna.^[6][2]

In the New Testament the lamp is set on a stand, and figuratively “the lamp of the body is the eye” (Matthew 6:22).^[8] It passed into Latin lychnus.^[9] Today Modern Greek λύχνος (lýchnos) is a learned word; the everyday Modern Greek λυχνάρι (lychnári) comes from the Hellenistic diminutive λυχνάριον (lukhnárion).^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey mentions a golden lamp.^[5][6]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus probably uses the plural λύχνα.^[6][7][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for a lamp.^[6][13][12]
• 1st century BC–1st century AD – Strabo uses it for a fish.^[6][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament has “the lamp of the body is the eye”.^[8]
• Modern Greek – λύχνος survives as a learned word beside λυχνάρι.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A portable light, a lamp.^[6][7]
2. (plural) The lamp market.^[6]
3. (figurative, New Testament) A lamp, of the eye or of a person who gives light.^[8]
4. A fish.^[6][2]

Word family

• λυχνία (lukhnía)
• λυχνοῦχος (lukhnoûkhos)
• λυχνάριον (lukhnárion)
• λυχνεῖον (lukhneîon)

Related words

• λευκός (leukós)
• λεύσσω (leússō)
• Latin lūna
• Latin lychnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 d 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
4. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
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. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux