πλεύμων

Forms

πλεύμων (pleúmōn) m (genitive πλεύμονος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pléwmōn,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pléwmō (“lung”).^[1][2] Beekes points out that the correspondences all contain minor irregularities: Sanskrit क्लोमन् (klomán-, “the right lung”) goes back to *k(w)leu-mon-, and Latin pulmō to *pul-mon-, with metathesis.^[2][3] The root Proto-Indo-European *pleu- must be the starting point, since it reappears in Old Church Slavonic плюща (pljušta, “lungs”) and Lithuanian plaũčiai (“lungs”).^[2][1]

Beekes thinks it is perhaps related to πλέω (pléō, “to sail, float”), and Pokorny explains the lung as the “floater”, because it floats on water.^[2][3][4] The variant πνεύμων (pneúmōn), usual in the manuscripts, comes from a link with πνεῦμα (pneûma, “breath”) and πνέω (pnéō, “to breathe”) that Aristotle suggested.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the lungs, where a bronze spear point lodges.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The plural is usual in Archilochus, Alcaeus and tragedy, and the lungs were thought the most vital part of the body and even the seat of love.^[4][6] Plato calls the lung the steward of the breath.^[4] Plato and Aristotle also give the name to a sea animal, the jellyfish.^[4][2]

The grammarians and the best manuscripts show that πλεύμων was the Homeric and the true Attic form.^[4][5] The physicians derived πλευμονία (pleumonía) and περιπλευμονία (peripleumonía) for inflammation of the lungs.^[5] Modern Greek uses the remade learned form πνεύμονας (pnévmonas), beside the popular Modern Greek πλεμόνι (plemóni).^[9][10][5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the lungs.^[4][8]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses the plural.^[4][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the lung as the organ of breath and for the jellyfish.^[4][11]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus has the form πλεύμων.^[4][5]
• Modern Greek – πνεύμονας (pnévmonas) is the learned word for the lung.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The lungs (in the singular or plural).^[6][4]
2. A jellyfish, sea-lung.^[6][4]
3. (insult) A term of abuse that Epicurus applied to Nausiphanes.^[4]

Word family

• πλευμονία (pleumonía)
• περιπλευμονία (peripleumonía)

Related words

• πνεύμων (pneúmōn)
• Latin pulmō
• English pneumonia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge