χαλάω

Forms

χαλάω (khaláō) ^[1] Aeolic third person plural χόλαισι in Alcaeus.^[2][3] Doric aorist participle χαλάξαις in Pindar.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[4][5] Beekes takes the aorist χαλάσαι (khalásai) as the primary formation and the presents χαλάω and χαλαίνω (khalaínō) as later.^[4] The adjective χαλαρός (khalarós) stands beside it as τάλαρος (tálaros) stands beside ταλάσσαι (talássai).^[4][5] Chantraine adds a stem χαλι- (khali-) under Caland's rule.^[5]

Meillet compared Armenian words for “game” and “to play”, but Beekes rejects this, as it would need an Indo-European aspirated /kh/, which is not found in inherited words.^[4][1] Wiktionary allows that it may be Pre-Greek.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Homeric Hymns use it of unstringing a bow, and the Hymn to Apollo has the epic aorist χάλασσα.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it meant to slacken or loosen what is tight: bowstrings, reins, bonds, a noose, the bars of a door, and so to open a door or let a prisoner go.^[2][3] Pindar has an eagle let its wing fall.^[2] In medicine it was used of the bowels and the womb, and figuratively of relaxing anger or letting a desire go.^[2] The adjective χαλαρός (khalarós), “slack”, and the noun χάλασις (khálasis), “loosening”, belong to it.^[5]

In medieval Greek the verb took a new sense, “to spoil, damage”, which is its main meaning in Modern Greek χαλώ (khaló) or χαλάω (“to break, spoil”).^[7][8]

Timeline

• 700–500 BC – The Homeric Hymns use it of unstringing a bow.^[2][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the Doric aorist of an eagle letting its wing fall.^[2][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of releasing a prisoner from bonds.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it of the bowels and the womb.^[2][9]
• Middle Ages – The verb takes the sense “to spoil”.^[7]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek χαλώ (khaló) means to break or spoil.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To slacken or loosen; to unstring a bow.^[2][3]
2. To let down or let fall.^[2]
3. To release a person from bonds; intransitively, to slacken one's hold.^[2]
4. To undo bolts or bars, and so to open a door.^[2][3]
5. To loosen things drawn tight: a noose, a veil, a wineskin.^[2][3]
6. (medicine) To relax the bowels or the womb.^[2]
7. (figurative) To let go of anger or desire; to remit.^[2]

Word family

• ἀναχαλάω (anakhaláō)
• διαχαλάω (diakhaláō)
• ἐπιχαλάω (epikhaláō)
• παραχαλάω (parakhaláō)
• χαλαρός (khalarós)
• χαλαρότης (khalarótēs)
• χάλασις (khálasis)
• χάλασμα (khálasma)
• χαλιφρονέω (khaliphronéō)
• χαλιφροσύνη (khaliphrosúnē)
• χαλίφρων (khalíphrōn)
• ἐπιχαλαρός (epikhalarós)
• ὑποχαλαρός (hupokhalarós)
• χαλαίπους (khalaípous)

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 o p q 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge