ἀλύω

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /a.lý.ɔː/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /aˈly.o/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /aˈly.o/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓λῠ́ω (alúō) ^[1] Aeolic ἀλυίω.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[4] It is usually taken as a derivative in ⟨-u-⟩ of the root of ἀλάομαι (aláomai, “to wander”) or of ἀλέομαι (aléomai, “to avoid”), which Beekes calls only a guess;^[4][5] Puhvel's comparison with Hittite alwanz- (“bewitched”) is doubtful.^[4] Wiktionary derives it from ἄλυς (álus, “restlessness”), which Beekes takes for a back-formation from the verb, and compares Latin ālūcinor (“to wander in mind”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Iliad, of being beside oneself with pain or grief; in the last book Achilles roams the shore in despair.^[3][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is found only in the present stem, in poetry from Homer on, rarely in comedy, and in medical and late prose.^[2][3] In tragedy it was used of being at a loss in perplexity or despair, and rarely of being beside oneself with joy.^[2] Chantraine notes that it can mean being plunged in despair or melancholy without any agitation, as in the Hippocratic writings and Menander.^[3]

Later writers used it of being weary or restless;^[2] Polybius, Plutarch and Lucian used it of wandering or roaming idly.^[2] Beekes groups with it the Homeric ἀλύσσω, said of dogs, and medical words such as ἀλυσμός “restlessness”.^[4][3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of being beside oneself with pain or grief.^[6][2]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it of being at a loss.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it of restless patients.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of wandering about.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be distraught, beside oneself with grief or pain.^[2][7]
2. To be at a loss, perplexed.^[2]
3. To be beside oneself with joy.^[2]
4. To be weary or restless.^[2]
5. (late) To wander, roam about idly.^[2]

Word family

• ἀλύσσω (alússō)
• ἄλυς (álus)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press