Etymologically
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πολύς

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /po.lýs/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /poˈlys/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /poˈlys/[1]

Forms

πολῠ́ς (polús) m (feminine πολλή, neuter πολῠ́); first/second declension[1] Ionic and poetic πολλός, πολλόν; epic also πουλύς, genitive πολέος, plural πολέες.[2][3][4] Comparative πλείων (pleíōn), superlative πλεῖστος (pleîstos).[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús (“much, many”), an o-grade adjective from the root *pleh₁- (“to fill”), which is also the root of πίμπλημι (pímplēmi) “to fill”.[1][2][5] Beekes writes the word *p(e)lh₁-u-.[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit पुरु (purú-, “much, many”) (from the zero grade), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌿 (filu, “much”) and Old Irish il (“many”) (from the full grade), and Old English fela (“many”).[2][5][1] Frisk and Beekes note that the full-grade forms were probably nouns at first, “quantity, fullness”.[5][2] The stem πολλο- of the other cases is not certainly explained; the usual view is that it was shortened from *πολυ-λο-, built like μεγαλο- in μέγας (mégas).[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, of number (“many companions”), of size and amount (“a great host”, “much flesh”) and of space and time (“a wide plain”, “a long time”).[7][8][3]

Semantic evolution

Epic used it very widely, often where English needs a more specific word: “loud” of a noise, “heavy” of rain, “deep” of sleep.[8][9] Its neuter πολύ or πολλά served as an adverb, “much, far, earnestly”.[8][3]

In Attic οἱ πολλοί, “the many”, meant ordinary people as opposed to the few or the wise.[4][3] Phrases such as ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ “for the most part” and περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖσθαι “to value highly” were standard in prose.[4][3] Herodotus could say of a man that he was “much” in his pleading, that is, he pressed it hard.[9][6]

As a first element it was very productive, from Homer's πολύτροπος (polútropos) “of many turns”, of Odysseus, onwards.[2] The Septuagint and the New Testament use it constantly, with οἱ πολλοί for “the many” set against one.[10][11] It survives as Modern Greek πολύς (polýs).[12][13] English poly- comes from it.[14]

Timeline

  • Homer – “many”, “much”, “wide”, “long”; the epic forms πουλύς and πολέες.[8][3]
  • Homer – the Odyssey calls Odysseus πολύτροπος.[2]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod contrasts “from many” with “from few”.[3][15]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides has οἱ πολλοί for “the people” and ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ for “mostly”.[4][15]
  • 1st century AD – the New Testament contrasts “the many” with “the one” (Romans).[11]
  • Modern Greek – continues as πολύς; the neuter πολύ is the common adverb “very”.[12][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (plural) many, numerous; οἱ πολλοί, the many, the majority, ordinary people.[3][4]
  2. (of amount or degree) Much, great, strong; of a noise, loud.[3][4]
  3. (of space) Wide, large, or, of distance, far.[3][9]
  4. (of time) Long.[3][9]
  5. (of a person) Great, powerful; violent.[4]
  6. (neuter as noun) Much; πολλοῦ ἄξιος, worth a lot.[3][9]
  7. (neuter as adverb) πολύ, πολλά, much, far, very.[3][8]

Word family

  • πολλάκις (pollákis)
  • πολυμαθής (polumathḗs)
  • πολύμητις (polúmētis)
  • πολύτλας (polútlās)
  • πολύτροπος (polútropos)
  • πολλάκι (polláki)
  • πολυγαμία (polugamíā)
  • πολύϊχθυς (polúïkhthus)
  • πολύπους (polúpous)
  • πολύσημος (polúsēmos)
  • πολλάκις (pollákis)
  • πλεῖστος (pleîstos)
  • πλείων (pleíōn)
  • πίμπλημι (pímplēmi)
  • English poly-

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  7. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  8. ^ a b c d e Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
  9. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  11. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
  12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  13. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  15. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge