Etymologically
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μόλυβδος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mó.lyb.dos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmo.lyβ.ðos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmo.lyv.ðos/[1]

Forms

μόλῠβδος (mólubdos) m (genitive μολῠ́βδου); second declension[1] Homeric μόλιβος (mólibos) (also Hellenistic prose), μόλυβος (mólubos) in the Septuagint, μόλιβδος (mólibdos) in Plutarch, Attic βόλυβδος (bólubdos) on curse tablets, βόλιμος (bólimos) at Delphi and Epidaurus, and Rhodian βόλιβος (bólibos).[2][3] Mycenaean mo-ri-wo-do /moliwdos/ “lead”, on a Knossos tablet (KN Og 1527).[2][4]

Etymology

It is commonly taken as a loanword, probably from Anatolia, because of its many variant forms, which are not surprising in the name of a metal.[2][3] Beekes regards μόλιβος (mólibos) and μόλυβδος as the most archaic Greek forms, beside Mycenaean mo-ri-wo-do and a μόλιβδος (mólibdos) found at Olbia about 500 BC; the Mycenaean form may be the oldest, if /i/ changed to /u/ before /w(d)/.[2] βόλιμος (bólimos) would be due to metathesis and βόλιβος (bólibos) to assimilation.[2] Chantraine reports Solmsen's view that the δ is a suffix and that ι was closed to υ before β.[3]

The word has been compared with Lydian marivda- (“dark”), which may come from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“dark”); for the link between “lead” and “dark”, Beekes cites Latin plumbum nigrum “black lead”.[2][1] LSJ took it as a foreign word, cognate with the Latin name of lead, and Babiniotis mentions a borrowing from an ancient language of the Iberian peninsula,[5][6] but Beekes finds no basis for a link with the Latin word, which he relates to Proto-Celtic *ploudos; lead was known in Greece much earlier than in the West, so the Greek word cannot have come from there.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the Mycenaean mo-ri-wo-do on a Knossos tablet, meaning lead.[4][2] Homer has the form μόλιβος (mólibos) in the Iliad.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Theognis speaks of it as a test for gold, and Aristotle has the same use;[5] LSJ takes the word there for plumbago.[5][7] From Herodotus and Thucydides on it is the ordinary word for the metal, and Euripides speaks of molten lead.[5][7] Inscriptions and papyri use it too.[5] It also named a round piece of lead for ruling lines and, in the Hippocratic writings, a leaden weight.[5][2]

The Etymologicum Magnum gives μόλυβδος and μόλιβος as the correct forms, which the earlier inscriptions and papyri confirm, while later texts vary the spelling of the derivatives.[5] Among them is μολύβδαινα (molúbdaina) “a lead weight, a plummet”.[2]

In Modern Greek μόλυβδος (mólyvdos) is a learned word for lead.[8][1] From the derivative came Modern Greek μολυβδαίνιο (molyvdaínio, “molybdenum”) (1840), modelled on French molybdène, itself from the Greek word through Latin molybdaena; Modern Greek μολυβδίαση (molyvdíasi, “lead poisoning”) (1889) renders English plumbism.[6]

Timeline

  • Mycenaean – A Knossos tablet records Mycenaean Greek mo-ri-wo-do “lead”.[4][2]
  • Homer – The Iliad has the form μόλιβος (mólibos).[2][7]
  • 6th century BC – Theognis names lead as a test for gold.[5][7][9]
  • About 500 BC – A text from Olbia has the spelling μόλιβδος (mólibdos).[2]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for the metal, and Euripides speaks of molten lead.[5][7][9]
  • 1840 – Modern Greek coins μολυβδαίνιο (molyvdaínio) “molybdenum” after the French word.[6]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for lead.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Lead, the metal.[5][7]
  2. Lead (perhaps plumbago) used as a test for gold.[5]
  3. A round piece of lead for ruling lines.[5]
  4. (medicine) A leaden weight, the same as μολύβδιον (molúbdion).[5][2]

Word family

  • μολύβδαινα (molúbdaina)
  • μολύβδινος (molúbdinos)
  • μολυβδίς (molubdís)
  • μολυβδοχοέω (molubdokhoéō)
  • μολυβδοτήξ (molubdotḗx)
  • μολυβδουργός (molubdourgós)
  • χαλκομόλυβδος (khalkomólubdos)

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 i j k l m n o 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 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. ^ a b c Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge