παράλληλος

Forms

πᾰρᾰ́λληλος (parállēlos) m or f (neuter πᾰρᾰ́λληλον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek παρά (pará, “beside”) + ἀλλήλων (allḗlōn, “one another”), “beside one another”.^[1][2] It was often used as a noun, from phrases with “lines” or “circles” understood, and has the same formation as ἐπάλληλος (epállēlos) and κατάλληλος (katállēlos).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aristotle, who speaks of parallel lines and, in the Mechanics, of a seated man whose head and feet are parallel.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From geometry it passed to astronomy and geography: the parallel circles were the five zones of the sphere, and Hipparchus and Strabo use the word for a parallel of latitude, such as the one through the Borysthenes.^[3] Polybius uses it of ships and troops side by side and, with a dative, of a palisade running alongside a wall.^[5][3]

Plutarch called his paired biographies of Greeks and Romans the Parallel Lives, and used the word of persons and circumstances that match each other.^[5][3] Grammarians used it of words set side by side with the same sense, and its adverb of forms used indifferently.^[3] The Hellenistic compounds παραλληλόγραμμος (parallēlógrammos) and παραλληλεπίπεδος (parallēlepípedos) come from it.^[2]

It was borrowed as Latin parallēlus.^[1] Modern Greek uses the learned παράλληλος (parálilos); the noun for a celestial parallel is a semantic loan from French, and words such as the one for “parallelism” render French learned terms made from the Greek.^[6][2]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of parallel lines.^[3][2][7]
• 2nd century BC – Hipparchus uses it for a parallel of latitude.^[3][7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of things running parallel to one another.^[3][5][7]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo names the parallel through the Borysthenes.^[3][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch writes his Parallel Lives.^[3][5][7]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it of words used side by side with the same meaning.^[3][7]
• Modern Greek – The learned παράλληλος (parálilos) names a parallel in geography and astronomy.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Beside one another, side by side (of ships, troops in columns).^[3][5]
2. (geometry) Parallel; as a feminine noun, a parallel line.^[3][2]
3. Running alongside, parallel to something (with the dative).^[3][5]
4. (astronomy, geography) As a masculine noun, a parallel of latitude; in the plural, the five zones of the sphere.^[3]
5. Matching, comparable (of persons, their lives and circumstances).^[5][3]
6. (grammar) Of words used side by side with the same meaning.^[3]

Word family

• παραλληλεπίπεδος (parallēlepípedos)
• παραλληλισμός (parallēlismós)
• παραλληλόγραμμος (parallēlógrammos)
• παραλληλότης (parallēlótēs)

Related words

• Latin parallēlus
• English parallel

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge