Etymologically
Log in

χλωρός

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 19:28. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /kʰlɔː.rós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /xloˈros/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /xloˈros/[1]

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)
  • 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