πέλμα

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /pél.ma/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈpel.ma/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈpel.ma/^[1]

Forms

πέλμᾰ (pélma) n (genitive πέλμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes derives it, with a query, as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pélmn̥ (“skin, hide”), a noun in *-mn̥ from the root *pel- (“to cover; skin, hide”).^[2][1] The same formation is found in Old Saxon filmen and Old Frisian filmene “membrane”, and in Proto-Germanic *felmô (“covering, skin”), the source of English film.^[2][1] Forms with an n-suffix are Latin pellis (“skin, hide”), Lithuanian plėnė̃ (“membrane”), Old English fell and Old Norse fjall “hide”.^[2] Greek has no primary verb from this root.^[2] Beekes adds that ἐρυσίπελας (erusípelas), the name of a skin disease, may belong here.^[2] Babiniotis compares the suffix of δέρμα (dérma, “skin”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Hipponax, in the 6th century BC, for the sole of the foot.^[4][2] The Hippocratic corpus uses it for the sole of a shoe.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the sense “shoe sole” it is found in Aeneas Tacticus, Herodas and Polybius, and a 3rd-century BC papyrus mentions soles of wild boar's leather.^[4][5] The Septuagint, Aelian and Artemidorus use it for the sole of the foot, and the historian Herodian for camels' feet, Alexander of Aphrodisias calls the fingertips “the soles of the fingers”.^[4] In the Geoponica it is the stalk of apples and pears.^[4] Late Greek formed πελματίζω (pelmatízō, “to sole”).^[2]

The word lived on in medieval Greek,^[6] and Modern Greek uses πέλμα (pélma) as a learned word for the sole of the foot or shoe.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it for the sole of the foot.^[4]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic corpus uses it for the sole of a shoe.^[4][3]
• 4th century BC – Aeneas Tacticus mentions shoe soles.^[4]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the sole of a shoe.^[4][5]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – The historian Herodian uses it of camels' feet.^[4]
• 10th century AD – The Geoponica use it for the stalk of apples and pears.^[4]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek πέλμα (pélma) is a learned word for the sole.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sole of the foot.^[4][2]
2. The sole of a shoe.^[4][5]
3. The stalk of apples and pears.^[4]

Word family

• πελματίζω (pelmatízō)

Related words

• Latin pellis
• English film

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 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 Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki