πέλαγος

Forms

πέλᾰγος (pélagos) n (genitive πελᾰ́γους); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[1] Frisk connects it with πλάξ (pláx, “flat surface, plain of the sea”) and πλάγιος (plágios, “athwart, sloping”), and Chantraine with πελανός (pelanós), from a base Proto-Indo-European *peləg- with the suffix seen in τέναγος (ténagos, “shallow water”).^[2][3] Πάπυρος likewise traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“flat, broad, spread out”).^[4] Beekes objects that nothing confirms a link with that root and that the link with those stems is phonetically impossible, and considers it more probably Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.^[5] A comparison with a Hebrew word for “canal” is rejected.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, for the open sea: in the Iliad the “great sea”, and in the Odyssey the phrase ἁλὸς ἐν πελάγεσσιν “in the expanses of the sea”.^[3][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine notes that it is distinct both from ἅλς (háls) and θάλασσα (thálassa), the ordinary word for the sea: πέλαγος is the high sea, the open expanse.^[3] From Pindar and Herodotus on it names particular seas, with the name of the sea in the genitive or as an adjective, and the tragedians use it figuratively for a sea of troubles.^[8][9] Aristotle contrasts the open sea with the shallow water of harbours.^[10]

Latin borrowed it as pelagus.^[11] Medieval Greek also had the popular forms πέλαγο and πέλαο, which survive in Modern Greek dialects; standard Modern Greek πέλαγος (pélagos) is the learned continuation, meaning the open sea or a named part of the sea.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the open sea.^[8][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of named seas.^[8][14]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle contrasts the open sea with harbour water.^[10][14]
• Medieval Greek – The popular forms πέλαγο and πέλαο appear.^[12]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek πέλαγος (pélagos) is the open sea.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The open sea, the high sea; with ἁλός or πόντου, the expanse of the sea.^[8][9]
2. A particular sea, named in the genitive or by an adjective.^[8]
3. (figurative) A sea, a vast mass, of troubles or the like.^[9][8]

Word family

• πελάγιος (pelágios)
• πελαγίζω (pelagízō)

Related words

• πλάξ (pláx)
• θάλασσα (thálassa)
• Latin pelagus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
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. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge