πλύνω

Forms

πλῡ́νω (plū́nō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pluňňō, a nasal present built on the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *plew-.^[1][2] Like κρίνω (krī́nō) from *κρίνι̯ω (*kríniō), it comes from *πλύνι̯ω (*plúniō), with a nasal followed by a yod suffix; the nasal then spread to the other tenses.^[2][3]

Beekes calls the present a Greek creation on an Indo-European basis.^[2] The root is the one of πλέω (pléō, “to sail”), which matches Sanskrit प्लवते (plávate, “floats, swims”);^[2][3] LIV glosses it “to swim, float”.^[4] The closest formation is Old Armenian լուանամ (luanam), also a nasal present and also meaning “to wash”.^[2][3][1] The verbal adjective πλυτός (plutós) corresponds to Sanskrit प्लुत (plutá), and πλύσις (plúsis) to प्लुति (pluti), though these may be parallel formations.^[2][3] Compare also Latin pluit (“it rains”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for washing clothes: in the Iliad the Trojan women used to wash their garments at the springs, and in the Odyssey Nausicaa and her maids wash clothes at the river.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

It was the ordinary word for washing clothes and fabrics, as distinct from washing the body.^[2][8] Aristophanes and Menander use it for cleaning offal, and Xenophon for washing a horse's mane and tail.^[6] Aristophanes and Demosthenes also use it as slang for abusing someone, “giving him a dressing”, as if he were dirty washing.^[5][6] The perfect passive could describe something worn out and threadbare.^[5] In the New Testament fishermen wash their nets.^[8]

In medieval Greek the present was remade as πλένω (pléno), probably by the 11th century, on the model of μένω (méno) beside the aorist έμεινα (émeina); this is the Modern Greek verb πλένω (pléno) “to wash”.^[9][10][7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for washing clothes.^[5][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it as slang for abusing someone.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it of people abusing one another.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for washing fishing nets.^[8]
• 11th century – The remodelled form πλένω (pléno) probably appears.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The verb continues as πλένω (pléno).^[10][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wash clothes, fabrics or nets; to do the laundry.^[5][6]
2. To wash or clean in general, as offal or a horse's mane.^[6]
3. (slang) To abuse someone, to give them a dressing-down.^[5][6]
4. (passive, figurative) To be worn out or hackneyed.^[5]

Word family

• πλυνός (plunós)
• πλύσις (plúsis)
• πλυτός (plutós)
• ἐκπλύνω (ekplúnō)

Related words

• πλέω (pléō)
• Latin pluit

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 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 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux