ἁλυκός

Forms

ἁλῠκός (halukós) m (feminine ἁλυκή, neuter ἁλυκόν); first/second declension; comparative ἁλυκώτερος^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἅλς (háls, “salt”), with the suffix -ικός (-ikós).^[4][5][6] The Greek Wiktionary suggests that the ⟨υ⟩ in place of ⟨ι⟩ may come from ἁλμυρός (halmurós, “salty”),^[6] and Pokorny also lists a form ἁλικός (halikós).^[7] The noun is an old Indo-European word for salt, cognate with Latin sāl and Old Church Slavonic соль (solĭ).^[4][8]

The Etymologicum Magnum derives it from the word for salt as well, explaining the vowel by the parallel spellings ⟨τριφάλεια⟩ and ⟨τρυφάλεια⟩.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the late 5th century BC: the Hippocratic writers use it of salty bodily fluids and of brackish waters, and Aristophanes in the Lysistrata swears by “Poseidon the briny”.^[1][10][2]

Semantic evolution

In medicine and natural science it described the taste of humours, phlegm, tears and sweat (Plato, Theophrastus) and of sea water and mineral springs.^[1][11][2] Theophrastus uses it for brackish water.^[11] The Septuagint calls the Dead Sea “the salt sea”, ἡ θάλασσα ἡ ἁλυκή,^[12][13] and the Letter of James says that a salt spring cannot give sweet water.^[14][13]

The Etymologicum Magnum records the feminine ἁλυκή, with the rough breathing, as a name of the sea.^[9] The feminine also became a noun for a saltworks, in medieval Greek according to Triantafyllidis and already in the Hellenistic period according to Babiniotis, and Modern Greek αλυκή (alykí) is a coastal saltworks where sea water evaporates to give salt.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it of salty humours and brackish waters.^[1][10]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes calls Poseidon “the briny”, and Plato uses it of salty phlegm.^[1][2]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint names the Dead Sea “the salt sea” with it.^[12]
• 1st century AD – The Letter of James uses it of a salt spring.^[14]
• Modern Greek – The feminine noun αλυκή (alykí) means a saltworks.^[15][16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Salty, containing salt; of tears, sweat and the humours of the body.^[11][1][2]
2. Brackish, of sea water and mineral springs.^[11][1]
3. (of Poseidon) Of the salt sea, briny.^[2][1]
4. (Koine) ἡ θάλασσα ἡ ἁλυκή, the Salt Sea (the Dead Sea); in the New Testament, a salt spring.^[12][14]

Word family

• ἁλυκότης (halukótēs)
• ἁλυκίς (halukís)
• ἁλυκώδης (halukṓdēs)

Related words

• ἅλς (háls)
• ἁλμυρός (halmurós)
• ἅλμη (hálmē)
• Latin sāl

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
2. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ a b 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. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
6. ^ a b Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
13. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
14. ^ a b c 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
15. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
16. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας