τᾶλις

Forms

τᾶλῐς (tâlis) f (genitive τᾱ́λῐδος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] The scholia on Sophocles call it an Aeolic word;^[4][5] Beekes and Frisk suggest that it may be an Aeolic form of τῆλις (têlis, “fenugreek”),^[6][7][1] a plant name that itself has no certain explanation.^[6]

Pokorny placed it under Proto-Indo-European *tāl- (“to grow”), with Latin tālea (“stick, cutting”) and Lithuanian talõkas (“grown up, marriageable”),^[8][9] but Beekes notes that such comparisons have been abandoned.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Sophocles' Antigone, in anapaests, for a marriageable maiden, a bride-to-be.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare poetic word: after Sophocles it appears in Callimachus' Aetia and is cited by Pollux.^[4][10][3] The lexicographers disagree on its meaning: Hesychius records that some took it as a girl about to marry and promised to someone, others as a married woman, and others as a bride.^[11][4] He also has a gloss, read as the same word, for betrothed girls.^[3] Photius cites it from Aristophanes as well.^[12]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it in the Antigone for a marriageable maiden.^[4][5][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it in the Aetia.^[4][5][13]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux cites the word.^[10][13]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a girl promised in marriage, a married woman or a bride.^[11][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A marriageable maiden.^[4][6][14]
2. A fiancée or bride.^[5][11]
3. (according to some ancient lexicographers) A married woman.^[11][4]

Related words

• τῆλις (têlis)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c d Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
12. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
14. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС