σκελετός

Forms

σκελετός (skeletós) m (feminine σκελετή, neuter σκελετόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Ancient Greek σκέλλω (skéllō, “to dry up, parch”) + -τός (-tós),^[1][2][3] built on a stem σκελε- (skele-) like κοπετός (kopetós) and πυρετός (puretós).^[4] Beekes derives the verb from Proto-Indo-European *skelh₁- (“to dry up, wither”), the root of σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”) too.^[3] Frisk compares Low German schal (“dry, withered”), Middle English schalowe (whence shallow) and, without the initial s-, Latvian kàlss (“lean”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective “dried up, withered” and the noun “dried body, mummy” appear first in Attic comedy, in Plato Comicus and Phrynichus, both used to mock thin men.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun meant a dried corpse or mummy in Strabo and Plutarch, whose Antony says he will lie a dry corpse and nothing at all.^[2][6] Epigrams of Lucillius mock emaciated men as walking skeletons.^[2] The anatomical sense “skeleton” is Hellenistic: Philodemus and then Galen use it.^[2][7] Nicander uses the adjective of a dry plant.^[2]

It was borrowed into Latin as sceletus and passed into German Skelett, Dutch skelet and Catalan esquelet.^[1] Modern Greek σκελετός (skeletós) is a learned revival of the Hellenistic word: the skeleton of people and animals, figuratively a very thin person, and also the frame of a building, a ship or a pair of glasses.^[8][7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Phrynichus Comicus calls a man a dried-up mummy, and Plato Comicus uses the adjective.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander uses the adjective of a dry plant.^[2]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses the noun for a skeleton.^[2]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo uses the noun for a mummy.^[2][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a dried corpse.^[2][6]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for the skeleton in his anatomy.^[2][9]
• Modern Greek – The learned σκελετός (skeletós) means a skeleton and a framework.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dried up, withered.^[2][1][10]

Noun

1. A dried body, a mummy.^[2][6]
2. A skeleton.^[2][1]

Related words

• σκέλλω (skéllō)
• σκληρός (sklērós)
• Latin sceletus
• English skeleton

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 g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli