μαδάω

Forms

μᾰδᾰ́ω (madáō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to be moist, drip”).^[2][1] The present stem in -ᾰ- is old, but its formation is unclear, and the aorist μαδῆσαι (madêsai) is an innovation.^[2][3] With the adjective μαδαρός (madarós) it forms an archaic pair like χαλάω (khaláō) beside χαλαρός (khalarós) and πλαδάω (pladáō) beside πλαδαρός (pladarós).^[2][3] The sense moved from “flow away” to “fall out” (of hair), as in ἐκρέω (ekréō) and Latin dēfluō.^[2][4]

Cognate with Latin madeō (“to be wet; to be drunk”), Old Irish maidid (“to break out”) and Sanskrit मदति (mádati, “to be intoxicated”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Hippocratic Diseases of Women, where it means loss of hair, and in Aristophanes' Plutus, where an old man is called bald with it.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Theophrastus uses it of a fig-tree disease, in the sense “to be sodden with moisture”, which is closer to the root meaning.^[5][3] Aelian uses it of hair falling out.^[5][3] The Septuagint uses it in Leviticus of a man who loses his hair and in Ezekiel of becoming bare by chafing.^[8]

The factitive μαδίζω (madízō) “to pluck out hair” is a medical word.^[2][3] Modern Greek μαδώ (madó) continues the ancient verb, now meaning to pluck hair, feathers or petals.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic corpus uses it of loss of hair.^[5][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes' Plutus uses it of a bald old man.^[5][11][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of a fig tree sodden by disease.^[5][7]
• 3rd century BC – The Septuagint uses it in Leviticus of a man going bald.^[8][6]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it of hair falling out.^[5][7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek μαδώ (madó) means to pluck.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be moist or sodden; of a fig tree, to suffer from rot.^[5][3]
2. Of hair, to fall out.^[5][2]
3. Of a person, to be or become bald.^[5][11][8]

Word family

• μαδαρός (madarós)
• μάδησις (mádēsis)
• μαδίζω (madízō)

Related words

• μάδος (mádos)
• μαδός (madós)
• μαδωνάϊς (madōnáïs)
• μαζός (mazós)
• μασθός (masthós)
• μαστός (mastós)
• μεστός (mestós)
• Latin madeō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press