στελεός

Forms

στελεός (steleós) m (genitive στελεοῦ); second declension^[1] Feminine στελεά (steleā́), Epic στελεή and στειλειή, neuter στελεόν and στειλειόν, Hippocratic στειλεός, and in Attic inscriptions also have the plural στελειούς.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The Attic masculine of a word for a handle that also appears as στελεά (steleā́) and στελεόν (steleón); it is formed like κολεός (koleós) “sheath”.^[2][3] Beekes and Frisk derive these words and στέλεχος (stélekhos) “stump, trunk” from a lost noun, perhaps an s-stem *στέλος (*stélos), which may be related to Old Armenian ստեղն (stełn) “stem, stalk, branch” and to Old English stela “stalk”, from Proto-Indo-European *stel-.^[2][3] LSJ compares the dialect word English steal “handle of an axe, rake or hammer”.^[4] Beekes refers further to στέλλω (stéllō) and στήλη (stḗlē).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Hippocratic form στειλεός in Diseases of Women.^[5][3] Attic building inventories of the late 4th century BC list στελεοί among tools.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The word meant chiefly the haft of an axe or other tool.^[4][7] In the comic poet Anaxippus the neuter or masculine form seems to mean a rolling-pin.^[4][6][8] Josephus uses the plural for the rods on which the furnishings of the Tabernacle were carried.^[4] The paroemiographers record that rods of this kind were used to punish adulterers when no radishes were at hand, an allusion to the Attic punishment with a radish.^[4][9] The Etymologicum Magnum defines it as “the wood of the axe”.^[10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Diseases of Women has the form στειλεός.^[5][3][11]
• 4th century BC – Attic inventories list στελεοί, axe hafts.^[4][6]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Anaxippus uses the word for a rolling-pin.^[4][6][11]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses the plural of the carrying rods of the Tabernacle.^[4][5][11]
• 12th century – The Etymologicum Magnum explains it as the wooden part of an axe.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The haft or handle of an axe or other tool.^[4][7][10]
2. (in the plural) Carrying rods, staves.^[4]
3. Perhaps a rolling-pin.^[4][6][8]

Related words

• στελεά (steleā́)
• στέλεχος (stélekhos)
• στέλλω (stéllō)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ a b Woordenboek Grieks/Nederlands (2012–), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, https://woordenboekgrieks.nl
8. ^ a b Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge