ἀμέλγω

Forms

ᾰ̓μέλγω (amélgō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is an old verb, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk”).^[2][3][1] Beekes and LIV reconstruct an ablauting athematic present, *h₂mélǵ-ti, plural *h₂mlǵ-énti: the full grade is seen in Old High German melchan, Old English melcan, Albanian mjel and Lithuanian mélžu, the zero grade in Middle Irish bligim and Latin mulgeō, all meaning “to milk”.^[2][3] The same root gives the Germanic word for milk, Old English meolc and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌿𐌺𐍃 (miluks).^[1][4] Beekes does not connect it with the Sanskrit verb meaning “to wipe off”, which belongs with ὀμόργνυμι (omórgnumi);^[2] Chantraine is tempted by that comparison, and the DGE compares a Sanskrit verb meaning “to clean”.^[5][6]

An etymology of the 9th century AD derived it from ἅμα (háma, “together”) and ἕλκω (hélkō, “to draw”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Iliad ewes stand to be milked of their white milk, and in the Odyssey the Cyclops milks his sheep and goats.^[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it is the ordinary verb for milking sheep, goats and cows, with the animal or the milk as object;^[8][10] Herodotus uses it with the milk as object.^[8][10] Aristophanes uses it of draining strangers of all they have, and “to milk the he-goat” was a proverb for futile labour, used by Polybius and Lucian.^[8][10] Later poets used it for drinking down poison or love, and Nonnus for the sun sucking up moisture.^[10][8]

The verb lives on as Modern Greek αρμέγω (armégo), through Medieval Greek αλμέγω, with metathesis and the change of ⟨λ⟩ to ⟨ρ⟩ before a consonant.^[11][4][7] The noun Modern Greek άμελξη (ámelxi, “milking”) keeps the older stem.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad has ewes being milked, the Odyssey the Cyclops milking his flock.^[8][9][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with the milk as object.^[8][10][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it figuratively for draining people of their money.^[8][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius records the proverb “to milk the he-goat”.^[8][10][6]
• 4th–5th century AD – Nonnus uses it for the sun sucking up moisture.^[8][6]
• 9th century AD – The Etymologicum Genuinum derives it from ἅμα and ἕλκω.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek αρμέγω (armégo, “to milk”).^[11][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To milk an animal (sheep, goats, cows); with the milk as object, to draw milk.^[8][10]
2. (passive) To be milked; of ewes, to give milk.^[8][10]
3. (figurative) To drain someone of their money;^[8] proverb “to milk the he-goat”, of futile labour.^[8][10]
4. (figurative) To suck down, drain (a poison, a love); of the sun, to suck up moisture.^[10][8]

Word family

• ἀμολγός (amolgós)

Related words

• Latin mulgeō
• Modern Greek αρμέγω (armégo)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux