τηλίκος

Forms

τηλῐ́κος (tēlíkos) m (feminine τηλῐ́κη, neuter τηλῐ́κον); first/second declension^[1] Doric τᾱλίκος (tālíkos).^[2][3][4] Attic uses the extended forms τηλικόσδε (tēlikósde) and τηλικοῦτος (tēlikoûtos).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tālíkos,^[1] formed with a suffix -κος (-kos) from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂li-, which is the demonstrative *teh₂ (“thus”) with a suffix *-li-.^[2][5][6] The same stem is in Latin tālis (“such”); Old Church Slavonic толь (tolĭ, “so much”) points to *toli-.^[2][5][7] The demonstrative belongs to the stem of the article, Proto-Indo-European *to-.^[2][8][9]

It forms a set with ἡλίκος (hēlíkos, “as old as”) and πηλίκος (pēlíkos, “how old?”).^[2][8][3] Chantraine sees no link with Old Church Slavonic толикъ (tolikŭ).^[8] Szemerényi analysed it as a compound *to-al-i- with the root of Latin alō (“to nourish”), which Lejeune criticised.^[8][5] Wiktionary keeps the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow”) as a possibility.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for age, young or old as the context shows: in the Iliad a father is τηλίκου ὥς περ ἐγών, “of the same age as I am”.^[10][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Odyssey the word says that someone is no longer young enough for something (“you are no longer of an age for childish ways”) or old enough to do something, with an infinitive.^[10][4] Theognis has οὔ τοι τηλίκος εἰμὶ μαθεῖν, “I am not of an age to learn”.^[3][11] In Attic prose its place was taken by τηλικόσδε (tēlikósde) and τηλικοῦτος (tēlikoûtos), which often mean “so great, so important”.^[3][8]

Later poets used τηλίκος itself for size: Theocritus says it of wild animals, “so great”, and the epigrams of the Anthology follow.^[4][3][8] Hesychius explains it by τηλικοῦτος or νήπιος, “infant”, and Zonaras by μικρός, “small”.^[12][13] Byzantine prose still has τηλίκον κάλλος, “such great beauty”.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for being of a certain age.^[10][3]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it with an infinitive: “not of an age to learn”.^[3][4][14]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it for the size of wild animals.^[4][14]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as τηλικοῦτος or “infant”.^[12][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of such an age, so old or so young, correlative with ἡλίκος (hēlíkos) and πηλίκος (pēlíkos); of the right age (to do something); of the same age as.^[3][4][10]
2. So great, so large.^[4][3][15]

Word family

• τηλικόσδε (tēlikósde)
• τηλικοῦτος (tēlikoûtos)

Related words

• ἡλίκος (hēlíkos)
• πηλίκος (pēlíkos)
• Latin tālis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ a b c d e f 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
9. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
11. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
12. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
13. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
15. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press