χλωρός

Forms

χλωρός (khlōrós) m (feminine χλωρᾱ́, neuter χλωρόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʰlōrós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰl̥h₃rós, from the root *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”).^[1] It is an exact match of the Phrygian gloss γλουρος (glouros, “golden”), recorded by Hesychius.^[1][2] It belongs with χλόη (khlóē, “young green shoots”) and χολή (kholḗ, “bile”), but Beekes notes that it stands apart from that group with a different formation, and Chantraine that its vowel is hard to analyse.^[3][2]

The root's words for green growth are found in Lithuanian žélti (“to grow green, sprout”), Old Church Slavonic зеленъ (zelenŭ, “green”), Latin holus (“vegetables”) and Avestan zairi- (“yellow”).^[3] The Etymologicum Magnum derived it from χαλάω (khaláō, “to slacken”) and ὥρα (hṓrā, “bloom, beauty”), “one whose bloom has slackened”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it of a colour hard to pin down: of green, freshly cut wood, of yellow honey, and of faces pale with fear.^[5][6] The Iliad also has “pale fear”.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

The word covers both green and yellow.^[8][9] It is used of green woods, mountains and trees, as in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Pindar and Euripides, of the yellow sand in Sophocles, and of the yolk of an egg.^[6][8] It also means pale: Hesiod has pale adamant and a pale Achlys, and Sappho says that she is “greener than grass”.^[6] Without regard to colour it means fresh, as opposed to dry, of living wood, and figuratively blooming or unripe, as in Gorgias' “green and bloodless affairs”.^[6][8]

The Septuagint uses it of green plants,^[10] and the New Testament of green grass and of the “pale” horse of the Apocalypse.^[9][11] Modern Greek χλωρός (chlorós) continues the ancient word, in the senses “fresh, tender”.^[12][13] The English chemist Humphry Davy coined the name chlorine in 1810 from a Latinized form of the word.^[14][14]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of yellow honey and of pale fear; the Odyssey of green wood.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of pale adamant.^[6][15]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho says she is “greener than grass”.^[6][15]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of the yellow sand.^[6][15]
• 5th–4th century BC – Gorgias uses it of “green”, unripe affairs.^[6][15]
• New Testament – It describes green grass and the pale horse of Revelation 6:8.^[9][11]
• 1810 – Davy names chlorine after it.^[14]
• Modern Greek – χλωρός means “fresh, tender”.^[12][13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Greenish-yellow, pale green, of plants and woods.^[6][8]
2. Yellow, of honey, sand or egg yolk.^[6][5]
3. Pale, pallid, of persons, especially from fear.^[6][5]
4. Fresh, green, as opposed to dry; figuratively, blooming or unripe.^[6][8]

Word family

• μελίχλωρος (melíkhlōros)
• χλωρότης (khlōrótēs)
• ἔγχλωρος (énkhlōros)
• ὑπόχλωρος (hupókhlōros)
• χλωρίς (khlōrís)

Related words

• χλόη (khlóē)
• χολή (kholḗ)
• English chlorine

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ a b Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge