στήλη

Forms

στήλη (stḗlē) f (genitive στήλης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Its formation is disputed: Beekes prefers the reconstruction of Risch, *staslā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-sleh₂, from *steh₂- (“to stand”), the root of ἵστημι (hístēmi), with the same suffix as Latin scālae (“ladder”).^[2][1] Chantraine and the traditional view reconstruct instead *stalnā, from *stl̥-n-, with the zero grade of the root of στέλλω (stéllō, “to set, arrange”) seen in στάλιξ (stálix, “stake”); this explains Doric στάλα (stála) and Aeolic στάλλα (stálla) as the two outcomes of the group ⟨λν⟩, and gives an exact match in Old High German stollo (“support, post”).^[3][2][4] Chantraine calls Risch's alternative less plausible.^[3] The word was borrowed into Lycian sttala.^[2]

Ancient grammarians derived it from the future of the verb “to make stand”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is a block of stone or a post propping a rampart, and a pillar set on a grave mound; a dead warrior stands fast “like a pillar on a tomb”.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

From the grave pillar the word passed to any upright slab bearing an inscription: Herodotus and Thucydides use it for pillars recording victories, dedications, treaties and laws, and in Athens a decree or the names of the honoured and the disgraced were set up on a στήλη, so that the word could stand for the decision itself.^[6][7] It also named a boundary stone, the turning post of a racecourse, and a post on mortgaged land; the plural named the Pillars of Heracles at the Strait of Gibraltar.^[6][7] The Septuagint has the “pillar of salt” of Genesis 19:26.^[8]

Modern Greek στήλη (stíli) is a learned word in Modern Greek, which has added the sense “column”, a semantic loan from French colonne.^[9][4] English borrowed it as stele (1820).^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of props for a rampart and of grave pillars.^[6][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it of inscribed pillars recording treaties and laws.^[6][7][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of boundary stones and of the turning post in a race.^[6][11]
• 1820 – English borrows it as stele.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The word is used in learned style, also in the sense “column”, after French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A block of stone or wood propping a wall, a buttress; a base or pedestal for a statue.^[6][7]
2. An upright slab set on a grave, a gravestone.^[6][7]
3. An inscribed pillar recording a treaty, law, decree or honours, a stele; by extension the decision recorded on it.^[6][7]
4. A boundary stone; the turning post of a racecourse.^[6][7]
5. (plural) The Pillars of Heracles.^[6][7]

Word family

• στηλίδιον (stēlídion)
• στηλοῦχος (stēloûkhos)

Related words

• στέλλω (stéllō)
• ἵστημι (hístēmi)
• English stele

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge