ἄλλος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ál.los/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈal.los/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈal.los/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓́λλος (állos) m (feminine ᾰ̓́λλη, neuter ᾰ̓́λλο); first/second declension^[1] Cypriot αἶλος (aîlos) (inscription from Idalion, 5th century BC); Cretan also ἄλος.^[2][3][4] Arcadian neuter ἄλλυ.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos (“other”), the common Indo-European adjective for “other”.^[2][1][5] Beekes writes the root as *h₂el-io-.^[2]

Cognate with Latin alius, Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌹𐍃 (aljis), Old Irish aile, Old Armenian այլ (ayl) and Tocharian B alyek, all meaning “other”.^[2][1] Gaulish has it in the tribal name Allobroges.^[2][5][1] Sanskrit अन्य (anyá-) “other” is similar, but Beekes explains its n as a blend with the comparative *h₂entero-, and Frisk leaves the relation open.^[2][5] The particle ἀλλά (allá) “but” is the neuter plural of the word.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the Iliad on, meaning “another, one more” and “other, different”: in the Iliad an archer shoots “another arrow”, and Zeus is addressed together with “the other gods”.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

Homer already has most of its uses: with the article, οἱ ἄλλοι “the others, the rest”; in pairs, ἄλλος μὲν … ἄλλος δέ “one … another”; and in a sense close to “different”, as of a different kind of bird.^[7][4][6] In the Odyssey the word can even mean “other than true”, that is, untrue.^[8][4]

Classical prose added idioms such as ἄλλος ἄλλα λέγει “one man says one thing, another something else” (Xenophon), and with a numeral it meant “yet another”: Herodotus speaks of “a fifth river besides”.^[6][4] Hesiod and Euripides use it as a euphemism for bad fortune, “other” than good.^[6][3] In Attic decrees τὰ μὲν ἄλλα “as for the rest” introduced amendments.^[4]

Grammarians distinguished it from ἕτερος (héteros): ἕτερος was used of one of two, ἄλλος of one of many.^[9] The New Testament still largely keeps that difference.^[10][11] The word continued through medieval Greek and survives as Modern Greek άλλος (állos).^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• Homer – used for “another, more” and for “other, different”, and with the article for “the rest”.^[7][4]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of misfortune, “something other” than good.^[6][3]
• 5th century BC – the Cypriot form αἶλος appears on an inscription from Idalion.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it with numerals: “yet a fifth river”.^[6][4][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon have ἄλλος ἄλλα λέγει, “different men say different things”.^[4][6][3]
• 1st century AD – the New Testament uses it for “another” in contrast with oneself: “he saved others, he cannot save himself”.^[15]
• Modern Greek – continues as άλλος.^[13][12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. other, another: one more besides those mentioned.^[4][6]
2. Other, different in kind; with the genitive, other than.^[4][6]
3. (with the article) The rest, all the others; τὰ ἄλλα “in other respects”.^[4][6]
4. (with numerals) Yet, still, further: “a fifth river besides”.^[4][6]
5. (repeated or paired) One … another; ἄλλος ἄλλο “each a different thing”.^[4][6]
6. (of time) The next or the other: τῇ ἄλλῃ ἡμέρᾳ “on the next day”.^[4][6]
7. (euphemistic) Other than good: adverse, unlucky.^[6][3]
8. (Odyssey) Other than true, untrue.^[4][8]

Word family

• ἀλλά (allá)
• ἀλλαγή (allagḗ)
• ἀλλάσσω (allássō)
• ἀλλαχόθεν (allakhóthen)
• ἀλλαχοῦ (allakhoû)
• ἀλλοῖος (alloîos)
• ἄλλοσε (állose)
• ἄλλυδις (álludis)
• ἄλλως (állōs)
• ἀλλάξ (alláx)
• ἀλλήλων (allḗlōn)
• ἀλλότριος (allótrios)
• ἀλλοδαπός (allodapós)
• ἀλλήλων (allḗlōn)

Related words

• Latin alius
• English allegory

Usage notes

The ancient synonym books distinguish ἄλλος from ἕτερος (héteros): ἕτερος is used of one of two, ἄλλος of one among many.^[9][11] The proverb ἄλλος οὗτος Ἡρακλῆς “here is another Heracles” was said of people who get their way by force.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
9. ^ a b c Adler, Ada, ed. (1928–1938), Suidae Lexicon, 5 vols, Leipzig: Teubner
10. ^ Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
11. ^ a b Thayer, Joseph Henry (1889), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book Company
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
15. ^ 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