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ἀναλύω

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word ἀναλύω

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
700s BC Homer, Odyssey
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek λύω
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek λύω
Ancient Greek ἀναλύω
Derivations
From the same root
Ancient Greek διαλύω ← λύω
Ancient Greek καταλύω ← λύω

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /a.na.ly̌ː.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /a.naˈly.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /a.naˈly.o/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓νᾰλῡ́ω (analū́ō) [1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀνα- (ana-) + λύω (lū́ō, “to loosen”), with the prefix in the sense “back, again” or “thoroughly”.[1][2] Homer has the epic form ἀλλύω (allū́ō), with the prefix shortened and its consonant assimilated, and Cretan inscriptions show the same form.[3][2][4] A form ἀνλύω (anlúō) occurs in an Isis hymn.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Odyssey, where Penelope unpicks by night the web she wove by day, and where Odysseus' companions set him free from his bonds.[2][4] The Iliad never uses it.[4]

Semantic evolution

From “undo, unloose” the verb came to mean dissolving a thing into its elements, and in Aristotle's logic and in mathematics it became the technical word for working back from a result to its principles: Aristotle uses it of reducing a syllogism to the figures and of analysing a geometrical construction.[4][5] In the middle voice it meant to cancel or make good faults and debts, as in Xenophon and Demosthenes.[4]

Used intransitively, it was a sailors' word meaning to cast off from moorings, and Polybius uses it simply as “to depart”; in epitaphs and in Paul's Letter to the Philippians the departure is death, and in Luke it means to return.[4][6] Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word.[7] In Modern Greek αναλύω (analýo) is a learned word for “analyse”, its scientific senses a semantic loan from French analyser and English analyse.[8][5]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses it of Penelope undoing her web and of loosing a man from bonds.[2][4]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of releasing an eye and a voice, and of undoing what fate has decreed.[4][3]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of analysing a geometrical figure and of reducing syllogisms, and Demosthenes uses the middle of cancelling faults.[4][3]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it intransitively, “to depart”.[4][6]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of returning (Luke) and of departing this life (Philippians).[6][4]
  • Modern Greek – The learned word αναλύω (analýo) means “to analyse”.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To unloose or undo: of a web, a girdle, mooring ropes.[4][2]
  2. To set free, release from bonds or from a sentence.[4][2]
  3. (medicine) To relax; in the passive, to become slack.[4]
  4. To dissolve into elements; in the passive, of snow, to melt.[4]
  5. (logic, mathematics) To analyse, investigate analytically; to reduce a syllogism to its figures.[4][5]
  6. To cancel, make void; in the middle, to make good faults, discharge a debt.[4]
  7. To release from a spell; to solve a problem.[4]
  8. (intransitive) To cast off, depart, and (figurative) to die.[4][6]
  9. (New Testament) To return.[6][4]

Word family

  • ἀνάλυσις (análusis)
  • ἀναλυτήρ (analutḗr)
  • ἀναλυτικός (analutikós)
  • ἀνάλυμα (análuma)
  • ἀναλυτέος (analutéos)
  • ἀναλύτης (analútēs)
  • ἀναλυτικῶς (analutikôs)
  • ἀνάλυτος (análutos)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  3. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ a b c d e 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
  7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Ἀναλύω.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%E1%BC%80%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BB%CF%8D%CF%89. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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