φιάλη

Forms

φιάλη (phiálē) f (genitive φιάλης); first declension^[1] Mycenaean Greek pi-a2-ra and pi-je-ra3, read /phihalā-/ and /phielai/.^[2][3] Later also φιέλη (phiélē).^[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes calls it a loanword of unknown origin and considers it probably Pre-Greek, because its suffix already alternates in Mycenaean (/phihalā-/ beside /phielai/), the interchange of /a/ and /e/ known from other Pre-Greek words; formally it fits the instrument names in -άλη (-álē), such as σκυτάλη (skutálē) and γύαλον (gúalon).^[4][2] Chantraine compares the same alternation in ὕαλος (húalos) beside ὕελος (húelos), and notes that the Mycenaean spelling with ⟨a2⟩ points to a lost intervocalic /s/, perhaps from a stem *φίσαλα (*phísala) or *πίσαλα (*písala).^[3]

Beekes rejects derivations from a prefix ἐπι- (epi-) and ἑλεῖν (heleîn, “to grasp”), or from the root of εἵλη (heílē, “heat of the sun”).^[4] Rosół lists the proposed Semitic sources, Akkadian būru (“cistern”) and a Semitic root “to mix”, among the rejected etymologies.^[5] Wiktionary mentions a suggested link with Persian پیاله (piyâle, “cup, bowl”), in which the direction of borrowing is unclear.^[1] Ancient grammarians derived it from πίνω (pínō, “to drink”), as a cup holding enough to drink.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Mycenaean as Mycenaean Greek pi-a2-ra.^[2][7] In the Iliad it is a bowl used for boiling liquids and a golden urn for the bones of the dead Patroclus.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

After Homer it was the broad, flat bowl or saucer used for drinking and especially for pouring libations, often of gold or silver, and Pindar, Herodotus, Thucydides and Aristophanes mention such bowls.^[8][9] The poet Timotheus called a shield the “bowl of Ares”, from its shape.^[9] The Revelation of John has the golden bowls of God's wrath.^[10]

It was borrowed as Latin phiala.^[11][12] In medieval Greek it named the fountain with a basin in the forecourt of a church, where people washed before entering.^[12] The Modern Greek sense “bottle, cylinder” is learned and was taken from French fiole or Italian fiala, which go back through Medieval Latin to the same Latin word.^[12]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – Linear B tablets record Mycenaean Greek pi-a2-ra.^[2][7]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a cooking bowl and a cinerary urn.^[8][9][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Xenophanes and Pindar use it for the flat libation bowl.^[9][14]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions golden bowls.^[8][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Timotheus calls a shield the bowl of Ares.^[9][14]
• 1st century AD – The Revelation of John uses it for the bowls of God's wrath.^[10]
• Medieval Greek – It names the fountain in a church's forecourt.^[12]
• Modern Greek – It means a bottle or gas cylinder, after French or Italian.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Homer) A bowl for boiling liquids; an urn for the bones of the dead.^[8][9]
2. A broad, flat bowl for drinking or pouring libations, usually of precious metal.^[8][9][10]
3. (figurative) A shield, as the “bowl of Ares”.^[9]

Related words

• Latin phiala

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b 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
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
11. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
12. ^ a b c d e Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge