σχολή

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /skʰo.lɛ̌ː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /sxoˈli/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /sxoˈli/^[1]

Forms

σχολή (skholḗ) f (genitive σχολῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *skʰolā́ (“holding back”), from the root *seǵʰ- (“to hold”).^[1] Frisk explains it as originally “holding back, stopping”, formed from the aorist stem of σχεῖν (skheîn), the aorist of ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”), with a suffix in /l/; its /o/ follows the many verbal nouns such as βολή (bolḗ) and στολή (stolḗ).^[2][1] The Πάπυρος dictionary calls the etymology uncertain, because both the /o/ and the suffix are problems.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Pindar (Nemean 10.46), for leisure.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is leisure, free time and rest: Herodotus, Euripides and Thucydides say σχολὴν ἄγειν “to be at leisure”, and Aristotle opposes it to ἀσχολία (askholíā) “business”.^[5][6] Tragedy uses it for slowness and delay, and Plato for a pastime, a way of using free time.^[6] Aristotle uses it for a lecture or discussion and for a group of scholars, and the New Testament and Plutarch for the school of a particular teacher; it also came to mean the lecture hall itself.^[6][2][1] In late Greek the plural named the imperial guard, Latin scholae.^[1]

Latin borrowed it as schola.^[7][1] Its derivative σχόλιον (skhólion) meant an explanation or commentary, a scholion.^[2] Modern Greek σχολή “school, faculty” is learned, with senses taken from French école and faculté and German Fakultät;^[8] σκόλη “holiday” is a medieval back-formation from σχολάζω (skholázō).^[8]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for leisure.^[4][5][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use the phrase “to be at leisure”.^[5][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a pastime.^[6][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a lecture and for a group of scholars.^[6][9]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for a teacher's school.^[6]
• Modern Greek – σχολή means a school or faculty.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Leisure, free time, rest.^[5][6]
2. Leisureliness, slowness, delay.^[6]
3. A leisure pursuit, pastime.^[6]
4. A lecture, learned discussion.^[6][1]
5. A group of scholars; a school; a lecture hall.^[6][1]
6. (plural, late) The imperial guard.^[1]

Word family

• ἀποσχολάζω (aposkholázō)
• ἀσχολέω (askholéō)
• ἀσχολία (askholíā)
• ἄσχολος (áskholos)
• σχολάζω (skholázō)
• σχολαῖος (skholaîos)
• σχολαιότης (skholaiótēs)
• σχολαστής (skholastḗs)
• σχολαστικός (skholastikós)
• σχολεῖον (skholeîon)
• σχολερός (skholerós)
• σχολικός (skholikós)
• σχόλιον (skhólion)
• σχολύδριον (skholúdrion)

Related words

• ἀσχαλάω (askhaláō)
• Latin schola
• English school

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge