Etymologically
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φλέγω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pʰlé.ɡɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈɸle.ɣo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈfle.ɣo/[1]

Forms

φλέγω (phlégō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *pʰlegō,[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”), a root present.[2][3] Chantraine analyses the root as an extension with a velar of *bʰel- (“to shine”), which is also behind φαλός (phalós).[4][5]

The nearest cognates are Latin fulgō (“to flash, shine”) (later fulgeō), flagrō (“to blaze”) and flamma (“flame”), Tocharian B palkäṃ (“shines”), Old High German blecchen (“to shine”) and Dutch blaken (“to blaze”).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad a fire blazes, and the streams of a river are set ablaze with fire; the verb is both intransitive “burn, blaze” and transitive “burn up”.[6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Aeschylus the sun scorches the earth, and Prometheus asks to be burnt with fire; in Pindar and tragedy the verb is used figuratively, as when Ares “burns” Sophocles' Oedipus or news fires a person with urgency.[7][8] In the passive it is “be inflamed”, of the body in Plato, and of anger, pride or love in Aristophanes, Plato and Plutarch.[7][8]

Its derivative φλέγμα (phlégma) went from “flame” in the Iliad to “inflammation” and then the bodily humour “phlegm” in the Hippocratic writers, a change Beekes calls unexplained.[2] In the Septuagint the verb is used of fire that burns and consumes.[9][10]

It survives in Modern Greek φλέγω (flégo), also in the passive of being consumed by zeal or desire and of being very hot.[5][11]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of a blazing fire and of a river set on fire.[6][7]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of the scorching sun, of burning, and figuratively.[7][8][12][13]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles has Ares “inflame” a person.[7][8][13]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the passive of inflammation in the body.[7][13]
  • 2nd century BC – Moschus uses it of inflaming with passion.[8][7][13]
  • Septuagint – Deuteronomy and Malachi use it of fire that burns and consumes.[9]
  • 6th century AD – A London papyrus speaks of an inflamed gout.[7]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek φλέγω (flégo) continues the ancient verb.[5][14]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To burn up, scorch, set on fire; to sack a country by fire.[7][8]
  2. (intransitive) To burn, blaze, flame; to shine.[2][6]
  3. (passive) To take fire, be ablaze; to be inflamed (of the body).[7][8]
  4. (figurative) To kindle or stir up strife; to fire someone with fighting spirit or urgency; to inflame with passion; in the passive, to be fired with anger, pride or love.[8][7]

Word family

  • φλόξ (phlóx)
  • πυρίφλεκτος (puríphlektos)
  • φλέγμα (phlégma)
  • φλεγμαίνω (phlegmaínō)
  • φλεγέθω (phlegéthō)
  • Φλεγέθων (Phlegéthōn)

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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  4. ^ a b 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 c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  10. ^ 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  12. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  14. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία