πάλιν

Forms

πᾰ́λῐν (pálin) ^[1]

Etymology

A frozen accusative of a lost noun meaning “a turning”, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷl̥H-i-, from the root Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn, revolve”).^[2][1][3] The noun may first have been used as an accusative of content with verbs such as “go” or “give”.^[2] The same root is in πέλομαι (pélomai) and probably in πάλαι (pálai, “long ago”).^[2][1][4]

The variant πάλι (páli) (Callimachus, the Anthology, papyri) arose because the final ν was wrongly taken for the movable ν.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is mostly an adverb of place, “back, backwards”, with verbs of going and giving: in the first book of the Iliad Agamemnon is willing to give Chryseis back.^[5][6][7] The ancient critic Aristarchus held that Homer never uses it in the later sense “again”, and the Homeric examples of that sense are few.^[8][6]

Semantic evolution

From “back” it came to mean “in the opposite direction, contrary”: Homer has it for gainsaying a speech and for taking back one's word.^[6][5] The sense “again, once more” is rare in Homer but becomes the usual one from the 5th century BC; tragedy and Attic prose also use it for “in turn”, and Xenophon and Aristotle use it to add a point, “then again”.^[6][9][10] It was often strengthened with αὖθις (aûthis) or αὖ.^[6][11]

In the New Testament it means both “back” and “again”.^[12] Coptic borrowed it as ⲡⲁⲗⲓⲛ.^[13] The form πάλι became medieval and Modern Greek πάλι (páli) “again”.^[14][15] As a first element πάλιν formed many compounds, such as παλινῳδία (palinōidía), παλίμψηστος (palímpsēstos) and παλίνδρομος (palíndromos), the sources of English palinode, palimpsest and palindrome.^[2][16][17]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “back, backwards” and for contradiction.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Aristophanes use it for “again” and “in turn”.^[6][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it to add a further point.^[6][9]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for “back” and “again”.^[12]
• Modern Greek – The form πάλι (páli) means “again”.^[14][15]

Meanings

Adverb

1. back, backwards, with verbs of movement; with the genitive, away from.^[6][9][5]
2. Back to a starting point or to a former state; back again, in return (with verbs of giving).^[9][6]
3. In the opposite way, to the contrary; with verbs of speaking, in contradiction.^[6][9]
4. (with the article) τὸ πάλιν “the reverse”.^[9][18]
5. In turn, in reply.^[6][9]
6. again, once more; πάλιν καὶ πάλιν “again and again”.^[6][9][12]
7. Then again, further (adding a point to a narrative or an argument).^[9][6]

Word family

• παλιγγενεσία (palingenesía)
• παλίντονος (palíntonos)
• παλίρροχθος (palírrhokhthos)
• παλίμψηστος (palímpsēstos)
• παλίνδρομος (palíndromos)
• ἔμπαλιν (émpalin)
• ἀνάπαλιν (anápalin)
• παλινῳδία (palinōidía)
• παλίωξις (palíōxis)

Related words

• πέλομαι (pélomai)
• πάλαι (pálai)
• English palindrome
• English palimpsest

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
4. ^ a b 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
5. ^ a b c d 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
11. ^ Woitrain, Jean-Pierre (2023), Lexique grec, Prima Elementa
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
16. ^ Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
17. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter