ἀλλήλων

Forms

ᾰ̓λλήλων (allḗlōn) ^[1] No nominative; genitive ἀλλήλων, dative ἀλλήλοις, ἀλλήλαις, ἀλλήλοις, accusative ἀλλήλους, ἀλλήλας, ἄλληλα; dual genitive and dative ἀλλήλοιν (Epic ἀλλήλοιϊν), accusative ἀλλήλω.^[2][3][4] Aeolic and Doric ἀλλάλων (allálōn).^[2][1] A singular ἄλληλον is found once in an Attic inscription.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other”) repeated: phrases like ἄλλοι ἄλλους (álloi állous, “some … others”) fused into one word.^[5][6][7][1] In *αλλο-αλλο- (*allo-allo-) the vowel of the second ⟨α⟩ was kept in the contraction, giving ⟨ᾱ⟩ (Attic-Ionic ⟨η⟩), and one ⟨λ⟩ was lost, by dissimilation or with the lengthening of the vowel.^[5][1] Babiniotis compares German einander (“one another”), formed in the same way.^[8] Latin alius (“other”) repeated in the same way and Sanskrit अन्योन्य (anyonya, “one another”) show similar formations.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning “one another, each other”: in the Iliad warriors ἀλλήλοισι κέλευον, “urged one another”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun refers back to a plural (or dual) subject and expresses an action going in both directions, in any of the three persons.^[2][1] It is frequent with prepositions, as ἐν ἀλλήλοισι “among one another” in Pindar.^[2] Euripides and Thucydides sometimes use it where a reflexive (ἑαυτοῦ (heautoû)) would be expected, and Photius quotes Thucydides' καί πού τινες ἀλλήλων ἐγεύσαντο “and some even ate one another”.^[11][12]

In the New Testament it expresses the mutual duties of believers, as in ἀλλήλων μέλη “members of one another” (Romans 12:5).^[13][14] Medieval vernacular Greek has the phrase απ' αλλήλων (ap' allílon), “mutually”.^[15] In Modern Greek αλλήλων (allílon) is learned and survives in set phrases, and the stem forms compounds such as αλληλεγγύη (allilengýi, “solidarity”) (Hellenistic) and αλληλουχία (allilouchía, “coherence”).^[16][8] Italian makes learned words with allelo- from it.^[3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for “one another”.^[9][10]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it in the Theogony and the Works and Days.^[10][17]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it where a reflexive would be expected.^[11][12][17]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it often for mutual duties.^[13]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek has απ' αλλήλων (ap' allílon), “mutually”.^[15]
• Modern Greek – αλλήλων (allílon) survives as a learned form.^[16]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (reciprocal) Of one another, to one another, one another, each other; mutually, reciprocally.^[2][18][13]
2. With prepositions: ἐν ἀλλήλοις among one another, μετ’ ἀλλήλων with one another, ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων for one another.^[2][13]
3. (rare) Used for the reflexive, “themselves”.^[11][12]

Related words

• ἄλλος (állos)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
12. ^ a b c Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
13. ^ a b c d 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
14. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
15. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
16. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
17. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
18. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press