ἄναλτος

Forms

ἄναλτος (ánaltos), -ον: an adjective of two terminations.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a negative verbal adjective, formed with the privative prefix ἀν- (an-) on a root that is from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow; to make grow, nourish”).^[3][4][2] Greek has no verb from this root, which survives in Latin alō (“to nourish”), Old Irish alim (“to nourish”), Old Norse ala (“to nourish”) and Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽 (alan, “to grow up”); within Greek the root is seen only in derivatives such as νεαλής (nealḗs) and perhaps ἀλδαίνω (aldaínō, “to make grow”).^[3][4][5][2] The word thus means “not to be fed full”.^[3][1] Chantraine compares the Hesychius gloss ἄλτρον (áltron, “reward”), perhaps “what assures food”.^[3][5]

Ancient lexicographers explained it otherwise: the Etymologicum Magnum derives it from ἅλς (háls, “salt”), of food without salt and so unpleasant, and Photius from a word for growth.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Odyssey as an epithet of the belly, in the phrase βόσκειν ἣν γαστέρ’ ἄναλτον, “to feed his insatiable belly”, and of the beggar Irus.^[1][2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare and mostly poetic: after Homer it is found in the comic poet Cratinus, and Crates uses it of a cooking pot.^[1][2][5] Hesychius also records a sense “not growing”, close to the meaning of its root.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey calls the belly “insatiable”.^[1][8]
• 5th century BC – The comic poet Cratinus uses it.^[1][2]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as “not growing”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Insatiable, never to be filled: of the belly, of a greedy person, of a cooking pot.^[1][2][9]
2. Not growing.^[2]

Related words

• ἀλδαίνω (aldaínō)
• Latin alō

Usage notes

A separate adjective ἄναλτος, formed from ἅλς (háls) “salt”, means “unsalted”: it is used of food in the Hippocratic corpus, by Timocles and Dinarchus, and by Dioscorides.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press