χλαῖνα

Forms

χλαῖνᾰ (khlaîna) f (genitive χλαίνης); first declension^[1] Ionic χλαίνη (khlaínē).^[2]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, together with χλανίς (khlanís, “light upper garment”) and χλαμύς (khlamús, “cloak”): it goes back to *χλάνα (*khlána), and the group shows the interchanges of /kʰ/ with /k/ and of /n/ with /m/, and the suffix -υδ- (-ud-) of the cloak name.^[3][4] Philoglossa rates the Pre-Greek origin as very reliable.^[5] Rosół takes it rather for a probable Semitic loanword, comparing Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Akkadian gulēnu, gulānu (“an outer garment, cloak”), with Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac words for a cloak, and he explains the cloak name in the same way.^[6] The CGL relates it to the light garment and perhaps to the cloak.^[7]

Ancient grammarians derived it from χλιαίνω (khliaínō, “to warm”), as a winter garment.^[8][9][10]

Latin laena was borrowed from it, perhaps through Etruscan.^[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a woollen cloak, worn by men over the χιτών (khitṓn) and pinned at the shoulder; in the Iliad a man throws off his cloak to run.^[12][13][3]

Semantic evolution

Homer calls it windproof and describes it as thick, large, double or purple; it was also given as ransom and spread as a blanket at night.^[12][13] Herodotus mentions cloaks given as prizes, and Strabo the cloaks of Pellene that were prizes in the games.^[12] In Aristophanes it is a fine garment, set against the coarse σισύρα (sisúra), and Aeschylus speaks of a “blanket of earth” covering the dead.^[7] Ammonius distinguishes it from the χλαμύς (khlamús): the χλαῖνα was a heroic garment, the χλαμύς Macedonian.^[14]

Modern Greek has the learned χλαίνη (chlaíni), for the ancient cloak and for a long, thick military greatcoat.^[15][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a man's woollen cloak and for a blanket.^[12][13][16]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days has it.^[16][17]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions cloaks given as prizes.^[12][17]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes contrasts it with the coarse σισύρα (sisúra).^[7][17]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo describes the prize cloaks of Pellene.^[12][17]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek χλαίνη (chlaíni) is a soldier's greatcoat.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cloak or mantle of wool, worn over the χιτών; in Homer worn only by men.^[12][7][3]
2. A blanket or covering used in sleep.^[12][7]
3. (figurative) A covering of earth over the dead.^[7]

Word family

• χλανίς (khlanís)

Related words

• χλαμύς (khlamús)
• Latin laena
• Modern Greek χλαίνη (chlaíni)

Usage notes

Aristophanes has a proverb about a city that suits neither the cloak nor the coarse σισύρα, that is, one that is never content.^[2][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
6. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
9. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
11. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
14. ^ [Ammonius], De adfinium vocabulorum differentia, ed. K. Nickau (Leipzig: Teubner, 1966)
15. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
16. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
17. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
18. ^ Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС