Etymologically
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ἄσυλον

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /á.syː.lon/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈa.sy.lon/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈa.sy.lon/[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓́σῡλον (ásūlon) n (genitive ᾰ̓σῡ́λου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of the adjective ἄσυλος (ásulos, “inviolable, safe from seizure”), used as a noun.[1][2][3] The adjective is the privative prefix with the stem of συλάω (sūláō, “to strip, plunder”) and σῦλα (sûla, “right of seizure, booty”): “what may not be seized or robbed”.[3][4][5] Beekes and Frisk find no certain etymology for συλάω, and note its likeness to σκῦλα (skûla, “booty”).[3][4] Pisani thought σῦλα came from Lydian, together with Latin spolia.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is older: Parmenides calls all that is “inviolate”, and a character in Euripides' Medea asks what stranger will offer a land of refuge.[2][6] As a noun, τὸ ἄσυλον first means the right of asylum, in Cretan inscriptions of the 2nd century BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

Hellenistic cities and temples sought recognition as asula, places where no reprisals or seizures could be made.[2][6] Polybius speaks of a temple of Artemis held to be inviolable, and papyri forbid dragging anyone out of such places.[2][6] The neuter then became the refuge itself: the Second Book of Maccabees tells how a man was coaxed out of the sanctuary to which he had fled.[6][2]

Latin borrowed it as asylum, which Virgil and Livy use for the refuge that Romulus opened to fugitives.[1][6] English took it from Latin in the early 15th century; the sense “home for the insane” came much later.[5]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Parmenides uses the adjective ἄσυλος for what is inviolate.[2][6]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides speaks of a land that offers inviolable refuge.[2][6]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius calls a temple of Artemis inviolable, and Cretan inscriptions use τὸ ἄσυλον for the right of asylum.[2][6]
  • 2nd–1st century BC – The Second Book of Maccabees uses it for a sanctuary where a fugitive took refuge.[6]
  • 1st century BC – Virgil and Livy use Latin asylum for Romulus' refuge.[6]
  • Early 15th century – English borrows asylum from Latin.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The right of asylum, immunity from seizure.[6][2]
  2. A sanctuary or refuge where no one may be seized.[2][6]
  3. (figurative) A retreat, a place of rest.[6]
  • ἄσυλος (ásulos)
  • ἀσυλία (asulía)
  • συλάω (sūláō)
  • Latin asylum
  • English asylum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge