τῆλε

Forms

τῆλε (têle) ^[1] Aeolic and Boeotian have initial π-: πήλυι (pḗlui) and the Boeotian personal name Πειλεστροτίδας.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“far”), an old adverb with an ending -ε that has not been explained.^[2][4][5] The Aeolic and Boeotian forms with π- point to an initial labiovelar, and Mycenaean personal names in qe- seem to confirm it.^[4][6] Harðarson proposed a locative Proto-Indo-European *kʷēlh₁- from the root of πέλομαι (pélomai, “to become, be”).^[2] Beekes doubts that the word had a laryngeal, and compares τέλος (télos, “end, goal”) for the sense.^[2] Wiktionary also derives it from a locative of the root “to turn”.^[1]

Pokorny gives Welsh pell (“far”) as a cognate.^[5] Chantraine rejects a link with πάλαι (pálai, “long ago”), and reports Szemerényi's doubtful idea that τῆλε had an original dental and is unrelated to the Aeolic form.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is an epic word, first in Homer: “far away”, “to a distance” (the bronze shone far off, Iliad 10.153), “from afar” (Iliad 2.863), and with a genitive “far from” one's friends and homeland (Iliad 11.817).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

After Homer and Hesiod it is rare: Pindar uses it once, Aeschylus once (“far off towards the setting sun”), and prose never.^[3][8] Prose says τηλοῦ (tēloû) instead.^[3] It is very common as a first member of compounds, among them τηλεκλειτός (tēlekleitós, “far-famed”) and the name Τηλέμαχος (Tēlémakhos), first “fighting from afar”.^[2]

Through the learned prefix English tele- it reached the modern languages: English used it for “telegraph” by the mid-19th century, “telephone” by the late 19th, and “television” by 1928.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “far away”, “afar” and “far from”.^[7][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony has “very far”.^[3][10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it once each.^[3][10]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it in his epic.^[8][10]
• Mid-19th century – In English, tele- comes to mean “telegraph”.^[9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Far off, at a distance; with a genitive, far from.^[8][3]
2. To a place far away, far; with a genitive, far away from.^[8][7]
3. From afar.^[8][7]

Word family

• τηλοῦ (tēloû)
• τηλόθεν (tēlóthen)
• τηλεκλειτός (tēlekleitós)
• Τηλέμαχος (Tēlémakhos)

Related words

• English tele-

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
7. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge