ἀλίνειν

Forms

ἀλίνειν (alínein), infinitive; present ἀλίνω, aorist infinitive ἀλῖναι; compound καταλῖναι.^[1][2] Verbal noun ἄλινσις (álinsis) in an inscription from Epidaurus.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *alínō,^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”).^[1][3] Beekes and Frisk take the present ἀλίνω (alínō) as cognate with Latin linō (“to smear, rub”), which was also originally a present with -n-; the root shape *h₂li- gave the Greek stem.^[1][2] Beekes would like to reconstruct *h₂li-n-H-, but notes that the short vowel of the Latin participle makes this uncertain, and he thinks the same root is probably found in ἀλείφω (aleíphō, “to anoint”).^[1] Köbler gives Pokorny's root *lei- (“slimy; to smear”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesychius glosses it as “to anoint” and the aorist as “to smear over”; an inscription from Selinous of the early 5th century BC confirms the verb.^[5][1][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb survives mostly in the glosses of Hesychius, who equates it with ἀλείφω (aleíphō), and its compound with κατα- (kata-) with "to pour down" or "to smear".^[1][2][5] The early Sicilian inscription shows that it was a living word of the West Greek dialects.^[6][1] A Cypriot participle meaning "engraved" and the Epidaurian noun "smearing", of a workshop, belong to the same family.^[1]

Timeline

• Early 5th century BC – An inscription from Selinous has the verb.^[6][1]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as “to anoint” and its aorist as “to smear over”.^[5][1]

Meanings

Verb

1. To anoint, smear.^[5][1][2]

Related words

• ἀλείφω (aleíphō)
• ἄλινσις (álinsis)
• Latin linō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
2. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
6. ^ a b c Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica