περικαλλής

Forms

περῐκαλλής (perikallḗs) m or f (neuter περῐκαλλές); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek περι- (peri-, “very”) + κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”), with the adjective ending -ής.^[1][2][3] The first part is intensive (“exceedingly”).^[2][3] Modern Greek περικαλλής (perikallís) is a learned word taken from the ancient one.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is Homeric, mostly a conventional epithet of fine things: a lyre in the first book of the Iliad and in the Odyssey, and fields, courtyards, altars, chariots, houses, gifts and thrones.^[5][2] Homer uses it of women only three times, and of a man's eyes in the Odyssey.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Homer and the early epic poets used the word mainly of objects, and Cunliffe notes that, like καλός (kalós), it is often a mere ornamental epithet.^[2][5] The Homeric hymn to Hermes is the first text to apply it to men.^[5] Theognis calls Cyprus a “very beautiful island”, and an oracle in Herodotus uses it of a statue.^[5]

It remained rare in Attic, where Aristophanes applies it to the two goddesses of the Thesmophoria, but later prose writers such as Aristotle, Philo, Josephus and Cassius Dio took it up again.^[5] Medieval Greek kept it, as in the epic of Digenis Akritis, for people and things of great beauty.^[6] In Modern Greek it is a learned adjective for something of exceptional beauty, such as a statue or a monument.^[4][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of lyres, houses, chariots and gifts, and rarely of women.^[5][2]
• 6th century BC – Theognis calls Cyprus a very beautiful island.^[5][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus quotes an oracle that uses it of a statue.^[5][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes applies it to the two goddesses of the Thesmophoria, one of its rare Attic uses.^[5][7]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval Greek, including the Digenis Akritis, uses it for very beautiful people and things.^[6]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned adjective.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very beautiful, lovely; in Homer mostly of things (a lyre, a house, a chariot), more rarely of women.^[5][2]
2. Of men and their features, very handsome.^[5][2]

Related words

• κάλλος (kállos)
• καλός (kalós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
3. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge