χίλιοι

Forms

χῑ́λῐοι (khī́lioi) (feminine χῑ́λῐαι, neuter χῑ́λῐα)^[1] Ionic χείλιοι, Doric χήλιοι, Lesbian and Thessalian χέλλιοι.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʰehliyoi,^[1] an adjective formed from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeslo- (“thousand”).^[3][4] The dialect forms, Ionic χείλιοι (kheílioi), Doric χήλιοι (khḗlioi) and Lesbian and Thessalian χέλλιοι (khéllioi), point to an older *χέσλιοι (khéslioi); the Attic form is usually explained by assimilation of the vowels.^[3][5][2]

Cognate with Sanskrit सहस्र (sahásra) and Avestan hazaŋra, “thousand”, whose first syllable is the zero grade of the word for “one” (εἷς (heîs)).^[3][4] Latin mīlle is usually connected too, from *smih₂ ǵʰeslih₂.^[3] The original concrete sense of the Indo-European word is unknown: Chantraine notes that Indo-European had no word of its own for “thousand”, and Beekes suggests something like “heap”.^[4][3] Wiktionary derives it from *ǵʰes- (“hand”), the root of χείρ (kheír), as if “a full hand”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it only in the neuter: the Iliad speaks of a thousand measures of wine (7.471) and a thousand fires burning on the plain (8.562).^[2][6] Beekes notes that the Attic form intruded into the text of Homer, and LSJ that the Ionic χείλιοι should probably be restored there.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus uses the singular with collective nouns, χιλίη ἵππος “a thousand horse”, and Xenophon follows him.^[2] In Attic the feminine plural χίλιαι, with δραχμαί understood, meant “a thousand drachmas” (Demosthenes).^[2] Inscriptions record the dialect forms: Ionic χείλιοι at Chios and Doric χήλιοι at Sparta in the 5th century BC, and Thessalian χέλλιοι at Phalanna in the 2nd.^[2]

In the New Testament the thousand years of the Revelation (20:2–7) are the millennium.^[7] It survives as Modern Greek χίλιοι (chílioi), which continues the ancient word.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad has the neuter χίλια, “a thousand”.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses χιλίη ἵππος, “a thousand horse”.^[2][9]
• 5th century BC – Inscriptions of Chios and Sparta have χείλιοι and χήλιοι.^[2]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses χίλιαι for a thousand drachmas.^[2][9]
• 1st century AD – The Revelation speaks of the thousand-year reign, the millennium.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as χίλιοι.^[8]

Meanings

Numeral

1. A thousand.^[2][7]
2. (singular, with collective nouns) A thousand: χιλίη ἵππος, a thousand cavalry.^[2]
3. (feminine plural, as a noun) A thousand drachmas.^[2]

Word family

• χιλιάς (khiliás)

Related words

• Latin mīlle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ 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
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