Etymologically
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ἁλίσκομαι

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ha.lís.ko.mai̯/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /aˈlis.ko.mɛ/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /aˈlis.ko.me/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̔λῐ́σκομαι (halískomai) [1] Thessalian and Arcadian forms with initial ⟨ϝ⟩.[2] Aorist ἑάλων, Ionic ἥλων; perfect ἑάλωκα.[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- (“to catch, seize, strike”), with the suffix -σκομαι (-skomai).[1][2][4] Thessalian and Arcadian forms with initial digamma ⟨ϝ⟩ confirm the old /w/; the rough breathing was probably taken from αἱρέω (hairéō) and its aorist ἑλεῖν (heleîn).[2][1] The aorist ἑάλων (heálōn) comes from an older *ἠϝάλων (*ēwálōn).[2]

The root explains all the forms: its zero grade gave *ϝλω- (*wlō-) before a consonant and *ϝαλ- (*wal-) before a vowel, and the two were combined.[2] Beekes and Wiktionary also consider a passive aorist in -η- whose vowel was coloured to -ω- by the laryngeal.[2][1]

Cognates are Latin vellō (“to pluck, tear out”) and Hittite walḫ- (“to strike”), and perhaps Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐍅𐌰𐌽 (wilwan, “to rob”).[2][4][5] ἀναλίσκω (analískō) and perhaps the name of the Helots, Εἵλως (Heílōs), belong to the same root.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses only the aorist: to be caught or captured, and “to be caught by death”, that is, to die.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb serves as the passive of αἱρέω (hairéō), which supplies its active senses.[3][6] From Homer on it is said of people, animals and cities that are taken, and of those carried off by death.[3] In the historians and tragedians it also means to be defeated or overcome, and a person can be seized by madness.[3]

Herodotus uses it with a participle for being caught in the act, and in Attic oratory it became a legal term: to be convicted.[6] A rarer use is “to be won”, of power or of game in hunting.[6][3] The noun ἅλωσις (hálōsis, “capture”) survives as Modern Greek άλωση (álosi), a learned word.[2][7]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use its aorist of being captured or carried off by death.[6][3][8]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar has the present ἁλίσκεται and the noun ἅλωσις.[8][2][5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of being caught in the act, and Sophocles of a throne being won.[6][5]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Andocides uses it of being convicted in court.[6][5]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it in charges of desertion.[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be caught, captured, of people, animals and places.[3][6]
  2. To be carried off by death, be killed.[3][6]
  3. To be defeated or overcome; to be seized by madness or caught in difficulties.[3]
  4. To be won, achieved.[6][3]
  5. (with participle) To be caught in the act, detected.[6]
  6. (law) To be convicted.[6]

Word family

  • ἅλωσις (hálōsis)
  • ἁλωτός (halōtós)
  • ἀνθαλίσκομαι (anthalískomai)
  • προαλίσκομαι (proalískomai)
  • ἐναλίσκομαι (enalískomai)
  • παραλίσκομαι (paralískomai)
  • προσαλίσκομαι (prosalískomai)
  • συναλίσκομαι (sunalískomai)
  • Εἵλως (Heílōs)
  • ἀναλίσκω (analískō)
  • Latin vellō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  5. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux