φλόξ

Forms

φλόξ (phlóx) f (genitive φλογός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun with the o-grade of the root, from Ancient Greek φλέγω (phlégō, “to burn, blaze”).^[2][1][3] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”),^[2][4] and Chantraine analyses it as a form of *bʰel- (“to shine”) extended with a velar.^[2][4][5]

Its nearest relatives are Latin fulgeō (“to flash, glitter”), flagrō (“to blaze”) and probably flamma (“flame”), and Old High German blecchen (“to make visible”) and Dutch blaken (“to blaze, glow”).^[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning a flame of fire: in the Iliad a terrible flame of burning sulphur shoots up, and a fire burns down until its flame dies away.^[7][3] Homer also speaks of the flame of Hephaestus, and of a flash of light that shines round Achilles' head.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Poets used it for the flash of lightning (Hesiod, Aeschylus, Euripides), the blaze of the sun (Aeschylus, Sophocles) and the gleam of gems (Pindar), and figuratively for the fire in a fearsome person's eyes, the warming power of wine, love and suffering.^[8][3] Parmenides and Empedocles used it for fire as an element, Plato for the beam of light by which we see and for inflammation in the body, and Aristotle for meteors.^[8][3] Theophrastus gave the name to a plant, after the colour of its flowers.^[2]

In the Septuagint it also means the blade of a sword, and in the New Testament the “flame of fire” is the burning bush and the fiery eyes of the risen Christ.^[3][9] Latin used the word as the name of a flower, and the English phlox, from that Latin word, was applied to a genus of North American plants in 1706.^[10]

Medieval Greek made a new nominative from the accusative, which survives as Modern Greek φλόγα (flóga).^[11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a flame of fire.^[7][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the flash of lightning.^[8][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for lightning and for the blaze of the sun, and Parmenides for fire as an element.^[3][8][13]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the plural for meteors.^[3][13]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it as the name of a plant.^[2][13]
• 1706 – The English word phlox is applied to a genus of North American plants.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The word survives as φλόγα (flóga), formed in the Middle Ages from the accusative.^[11][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flame, blaze of fire; the flame of a torch.^[3][8][7]
2. The flash of lightning.^[3][8]
3. The blaze of the sun; the gleam of gems; a beam of light.^[3][8]
4. (figurative) The flame of anger in the eyes, of love, of wine, of suffering.^[8][3]
5. (philosophy) Fire as an element.^[3][8]
6. (medicine) Inflammation in the body.^[8]
7. (in the plural) Meteors.^[3]
8. A plant with flame-coloured flowers.^[2]
9. (Septuagint) The blade of a sword.^[3]

Word family

• φλογερός (phlogerós)
• φλογίζω (phlogízō)
• καλλίφλοξ (kallíphlox)

Related words

• φλέγω (phlégō)
• φλέγμα (phlégma)
• Latin flamma
• English phlox

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge