Etymologically
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λώβη

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lɔ̌ː.bɛː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈlo.βi/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈlo.vi/[1]

Forms

λώβη (lṓbē) f (genitive λώβης); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sloHgʷ-eh₂-, a feminine noun with o-grade from the root *sleh₂gʷ- (“to seize”).[2][1] Ragot argued from the Homeric passages that it first meant “seizure” and linked it with λάζομαι (lázomai) “to seize”, which Beekes finds convincing.[2]

It has long been compared with Baltic words for oppression and harm: Lithuanian slogà (“plague, burden”), Latvian slāga, and the verbs Lithuanian slė́gti (“to press, oppress”) and Latvian slēgt (“to shut”).[2][3][4] Chantraine explains it as a formation like λώπη (lṓpē),[3] but Beekes rejects such ad hoc lengthened grades.[3][2] Furnée compared Hesychius' λυβάζειν (lubázein, “to revile”), which, if related, would point to a Pre-Greek word.[2]

Byzantine etymologists derived it from λοβός (lobós, “lobe of the ear”), saying that the ancients cut off the ear tips of offenders, or from λαός (laós, “people”), as a public disgrace.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad and the Odyssey it is an outrage or insult, for which one must pay or take revenge, and, said of a person, a disgrace.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Homer has the set phrases λώβην τείσασθαι “to avenge an outrage” and λώβην λωβᾶσθαι “to commit an outrage”.[6] Alcaeus uses it of an insult to the Arcadians.[6] Herodotus uses it of mutilation, and Sophocles and Euripides of ruin.[6][7] In Plato it is harm or damage, joined with corruption, and said of the sophists' influence.[6][7] An epigram calls the grammarians the “bane of poets”.[6] Galen uses it for a form of leprosy.[6][2]

That medical sense survived: medieval vernacular Greek has Byzantine Greek λώβα (lṓba), and the popular Modern Greek λώβα (lóva) still means leprosy.[8][9][10][3]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of an outrage and of a person who is a disgrace.[6][7]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony uses it.[11][7][12]
  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it of an insult.[6][12]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of mutilation.[6][7][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of harm and corruption.[6][7][12]
  • 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a form of leprosy.[6][12]
  • Modern Greek – The popular λώβα (lóva) means leprosy.[9][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An outrage, insult, violent treatment.[6][7]
  2. Mutilation, maiming.[6][7]
  3. Of a person: a disgrace, an object of shame.[6][7]
  4. Harm, damage, ruin; a source of ruin, a bane.[6][7]
  5. (medicine) A form of leprosy.[6][2]

Word family

  • λωβάομαι (lōbáomai)
  • λωβητήρ (lōbētḗr)
  • λωβητός (lōbētós)
  • λωβεύω (lōbeúō)
  • λάζομαι (lázomai)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge