ποικίλος

Forms

ποικῐ́λος (poikílos) m (feminine ποικῐ́λη, neuter ποικῐ́λον); first/second declension^[1] Mycenaean po-ki-ro-nu-ka (neuter plural), and the personal name Mycenaean Greek po-ki-ro-qo.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is ultimately inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- (“to mark, embroider, paint”).^[2][1] The adjective is formed with the suffix -ίλος (-ílos), as in ὀργίλος (orgílos) and ναυτίλος (nautílos), from a noun that Greek lost but that survives in Sanskrit पेश (péśa-, “ornament”), Avestan paēsa- (“leprosy”) and Lithuanian paĩšas (“smut, dust-spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *poiḱ-o-.^[2][3] The accent moved back to the second syllable by Wheeler's law, from earlier *ποικιλός (*poikilós).^[1][3]

The zero grade of the root is seen in Old Church Slavonic пьсати (pĭsati, “to write”) and Latin pingō (“to embroider, paint”).^[2] The Etymologicum Magnum fancifully derived it from πέλω (pélō, “to be”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets have the compound Mycenaean Greek po-ki-ro-nu-ka.^[2] In Homer it means dappled, of a leopard's skin, and elaborately wrought, of embroidered robes and of a corslet worked in metal.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense covers spotted animals, snakes and birds, and woven or embroidered cloth.^[7][6] The Painted Stoa at Athens was the Ποικίλη (Poikílē), “the many-coloured (hall)”.^[6]

The metaphorical senses are early: Pindar calls a song ποικίλος for its changing strains, Herodotus a labyrinth and an oracle for their intricacy, and Euripides and Plato use it of subtle or abstruse knowledge.^[6] Of persons it means wily, as of Prometheus in Hesiod and Aeschylus and of Odysseus in Euripides;^[6] Aristotle uses it for what is changeable and unstable.^[6]

The Septuagint uses it of spotted sheep, of a piebald horse and of an embroidered garment (Genesis 37:3),^[8] and the New Testament of things of many kinds, such as various diseases and torments.^[9] Modern Greek ποικίλος (poikílos) is a learned borrowing of the ancient word,^[10] and English poikilo- and poecilo- come from it.^[1]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets have po-ki-ro-nu-ka.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a leopard's skin and of embroidered robes.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod calls Prometheus ποικίλος, “wily”.^[6][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of songs of changing strain.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the intricate passages of a labyrinth.^[6][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for what is changeable.^[6] Aeschines names the Painted Stoa.^[6][11]
• Septuagint – It describes Joseph's embroidered garment (Genesis 37:3).^[8]
• New Testament – It means “of many kinds”, of diseases and torments.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Many-coloured, spotted, dappled.^[6][7][5]
2. Wrought in various colours, embroidered; elaborately worked, of metal.^[6][5]
3. Changeful, varied, manifold; of many kinds.^[6][9]
4. Intricate, complex; subtle, abstruse.^[6]
5. Of persons, wily, artful.^[6]
6. Changeable, unstable.^[6]

Word family

• παμποίκιλος (pampoíkilos)
• ποικιλία (poikilía)
• ποικίλλω (poikíllō)
• ποικιλόθρονος (poikilóthronos)
• ποικιλομήτης (poikilomḗtēs)
• ποικιλόμορφος (poikilómorphos)
• ποικιλόμουσος (poikilómousos)
• ποικιλόνωτος (poikilónōtos)
• ποικιλόπτερος (poikilópteros)

Related words

• Latin pingō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge