Etymologically
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παλαίω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pa.lǎi̯.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /paˈlɛ.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /paˈle.o/[1]

Forms

παλαίω (palaíō) [1]

Etymology

Wiktionary derives it from πάλη (pálē, “wrestling”),[1] but Frisk takes the noun to be a back-formation from the verb.[2] The formation is unclear: if παλαίω is built like κεραίω (keraíō) and λαγαίω (lagaíō), with a present suffix, its aorist and future would be later, analogical forms.[3][2]

Beekes, who leaves the origin open, weighs two connections.[4] One links “wrestle” with “rock, sway” and so with πάλλω (pállō, “to shake, sway”), for which a root Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- has been proposed, but the Greek sequence pala- cannot come from that root.[4] The other starts from πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “to approach”), from *pelh₂-, with a development from “come into close contact” to “wrestle”, but no trace of the verbal stem this needs survives.[4] Chantraine finds the link with the verb “to shake” hard both in form and sense, though he allows one between the noun and that verb.[3]

The grammarian Philoxenus already derived it from the same verb “to shake”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Iliad, where wrestling is set beside boxing as a contest, and in the Odyssey, of a match with Philomeleides.[6][7] In Homer the word means to wrestle as a sport, distinguished from boxing.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod already uses it figuratively, of wrestling with ruin.[6][8] Pindar has a wrestling match with a lion and, of Ajax's suicide, a struggle with a bloody death, and Euripides, Xenophon and Polybius use the verb for contending with calamities and losses.[8][6] Plato speaks of those who know how to wrestle.[6] The passive means “to be thrown”,[6][8] and Euripides uses it in the Cyclops of the effects of wine, which must be grappled with.[8][6][8] Late prose writers such as Achilles Tatius use it with an infinitive for “to strive”.[6]

The verb made the technical vocabulary of Greek athletics: πάλαισμα (pálaisma, “a wrestling bout, a hold”), used for a contest of words or a trick, παλαιστής (palaistḗs, “wrestler”) and παλαίστρα (palaístrā, “wrestling school”).[3][2] The Septuagint uses it with μετά, “with”, in the story of Jacob in Genesis, and the Shepherd of Hermas speaks of those who have wrestled with the devil.[9]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept παλαίω, with a Cypriot form παλίω.[10] Modern Greek uses παλεύω (palévo) “to wrestle, to struggle”, a medieval formation from πάλη with the suffix -εύω.[11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for wrestling.[6][7]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it figuratively, of struggling with ruin.[6][12]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of wrestling with a lion and of a struggle with death.[8][12]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses the passive of a man thrown in a fight.[6][8][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it of wrestlers and of contending with losses.[6][12]
  • 2nd century AD – Achilles Tatius uses it with an infinitive, “to strive”.[6][12]
  • Middle Ages – Vernacular texts keep παλαίω, with a Cypriot form παλίω.[10]
  • Modern Greek – The verb for “to wrestle, struggle” is παλεύω, formed from πάλη.[11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wrestle.[6][8]
  2. To wrestle with someone (with the dative).[6][8]
  3. (figurative) To grapple or contend with a misfortune or loss.[6][8]
  4. To overcome; in the passive, to be thrown or beaten.[6][8]
  5. (late) To strive, with an infinitive.[6]
  6. (Septuagint, Christian) To wrestle with someone (μετά + genitive), as believers with the devil.[9]

Word family

  • πάλαισμα (pálaisma)
  • παλαισμοσύνη (palaismosúnē)
  • παλαιστής (palaistḗs)
  • παλαίστρα (palaístrā)
  • παλαιστέον (palaistéon)
  • πάλη (pálē)
  • παλάμη (palámē)
  • ἀντίπαλος (antípalos)
  • Modern Greek παλεύω (palévo)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  3. ^ a b c d 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 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
  5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge