πέταλον

Forms

πέτᾰλον (pétalon) n (genitive πετᾰ́λου); second declension^[1] Poetic dative plural πέταλσι (pétalsi) beside πετάλοις; epic πέτηλον (pétēlon), first in Hesiod, used for the metre.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pétalon,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂lom, a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out”).^[1][3] Within Greek it belongs with πετάννυμι (petánnūmi, “to spread out”), from which the dictionaries derive it, and so with πέτασος (pétasos, “broad-brimmed hat”) and πέτασμα (pétasma, “something spread out, a curtain”).^[3][2][4][5] Etymonline takes it as the neuter of an adjective πέταλος (pétalos, “outspread, flat”).^[6]

The same l-suffix is found in Old High German fedelgold (“leaf-gold”).^[3][1] Other relatives of the root are Latin pateō (“to be open”), patulus (“spread out broadly”) and pandō (“to spread out”).^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it, in the plural, for the leaves of a tree, in the Iliad and the Odyssey.^[8][2][9]

Semantic evolution

The word is poetic and mostly plural, and Xenophon is one of the few prose writers who use it.^[2] Hesiod uses it also for a sheaf of corn.^[4] In Pindar the “leaves of strife” are votes, recalling the olive leaves used for voting, and the “leaves of Ocean” are springs.^[4][2] Bacchylides calls the wreath of wild olive won at Olympia the leaf of good fortune.^[4][2] A late epigram uses it for flowers.^[2]

From the leaf of a plant it passed to a leaf of metal: Attic and Delian inscriptions record gold leaf and the gilding of the horns of victims, and by the 2nd century BC at the latest it named the metal leaves of golden wreaths.^[2][10] In the Septuagint it is the gold plate on the high priest's headdress, and in the Protevangelium of James the priest's headband.^[11][12] A medical writer uses it for slices of radish.^[2] Coptic borrowed it about AD 400.^[13]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a leaf, the petal of a flower, a metal plate and a horseshoe.^[14] Today Modern Greek πέταλο (pétalo) is chiefly a horseshoe, a sense first found in the Middle Ages, and also the petal of a flower.^[15][7] English petal comes from the New Latin petalum, a 17th-century borrowing of the Greek word.^[6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the leaves of a tree.^[8][2]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod has the epic form πέτηλον (pétēlon) and uses the word for a sheaf of corn.^[2][4][16]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls votes the “leaves of strife”.^[2][4][16]
• 5th century BC – Bacchylides calls the Olympic olive wreath the leaf of good fortune.^[2][4][16]
• 2nd century BC – Inscriptions from Delos record gold leaf laid on objects; by then it named the metal leaves of golden wreaths.^[2][10]
• 4th century AD – Oribasius uses it for slices of radish.^[2][16]
• About AD 400 – Sahidic Coptic texts borrow it.^[13]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use πέταλο (pétalo) for a leaf, a petal, a metal plate and a horseshoe.^[14]
• 1726 – English adopts petal from Modern Latin.^[6]
• Modern Greek – πέταλο (pétalo) means chiefly a horseshoe, and a petal.^[15][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leaf of a tree or plant, mostly in the plural.^[2][4]
2. A sheaf of corn (Hesiod).^[4]
3. (figurative) A leaf as a vote, or the leaves of a victor's wreath.^[4][2]
4. Flowers.^[2]
5. A thin plate of metal, gold leaf; in the Septuagint, the gold plate on the high priest's headdress.^[2][11]
6. (Koine) A priest's headband.^[12]
7. A slice.^[2]

Word family

• ἀπέταλος (apétalos)
• καλλιπέταλον (kallipétalon)
• λεοντοπέταλον (leontopétalon)
• πετάλιον (petálion)
• πεταλισμός (petalismós)

Related words

• πετάννυμι (petánnūmi)
• πέτασος (pétasos)
• πέτασμα (pétasma)
• Latin pateō
• English petal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Μανδουλίδης, Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της αρχαίας ελληνικής
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
15. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
16. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge