φλυαρέω

Forms

φλῠᾱρέω (phluāréō) ^[1] Ionic φλυηρέω (phluēréō).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is an enlargement from Ancient Greek φλύω (phlúō, “to bubble over, babble”), but the details of the formation are unclear.^[3][1] Beekes also considers a dissimilation from a form with λ.^[3] The accent shows that φλύαρος (phlúāros, “babbler; idle talk”) is a back-formation from the verb, though it cannot be decided which of the two came first.^[3] Chantraine finds the kinship with the verb in its sense “to talk nonsense” and φλύος (phlúos, “chatter”) obvious.^[4]

The long ⟨ᾱ⟩ of the Attic stem is a difficulty: it may have been kept after υ, as sometimes happens in Attic, or the word may be a popular borrowing from Doric, since it first appears in Timocreon of Rhodes; in that case the Ionic form would be an Ionic purism.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before the 4th century BC it is found almost only in Attic comedy, with Timocreon and Herodotus as exceptions;^[4] Herodotus has the Ionic form, of people who talk idly.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Attic it means to talk nonsense or behave foolishly, in Aristophanes, Isocrates, Plato, Xenophon and Menander; with an accusative it means to talk nonsense about something, and in Isocrates it is paired with slander.^[2][6] An anonymous elegy uses it affectionately, of friends talking foolishly with one another.^[2]

The noun φλύαρος was used in polemic to dismiss an argument or an accusation as empty.^[7] In the New Testament the Third Letter of John uses the verb of someone who spreads malicious talk about others, and the First Letter to Timothy calls idle women “babblers”.^[6][7] Modern Greek keeps it as the learned Modern Greek φλυαρώ (fliaró, “to chatter”).^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Timocreon has the word first, and Herodotus uses the Ionic form.^[4][5][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes, Isocrates, Plato and Xenophon use it for talking or acting foolishly.^[2][9]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it of nonsense talk.^[6][7]
• Modern Greek – The learned φλυαρώ (fliaró) means to chatter or talk at length.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To babble, talk nonsense.^[2][10]
2. To talk or act foolishly.^[2]
3. (with accusative) To talk nonsense about someone or something; in the New Testament, to disparage someone with idle talk.^[2][6]

Word family

• φλυαρία (phluāríā)
• φλύαρος (phlúāros)
• φλυαρώδης (phluarṓdēs)

Related words

• φλύω (phlúō)
• φλύος (phlúos)
• φλύαξ (phlúax)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d 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 Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ a b c Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press