ἅλλομαι

Forms

ᾰ̔́λλομαι (hállomai) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥yétor, a present with the suffix *-yé- from the root *sel- (“to jump”).^[1][2][3] Beekes starts from a form *hal-ye/o-, with initial /s/ becoming /h/ and /ly/ becoming /ll/.^[2] Latin saliō (“to jump”) probably has the same formation;^[3][2] De Vaan instead proposes a root *sh₂l- to account for the Italic and Celtic forms.^[2][3] Sanskrit सरति (sárati, “to run”) is also related.^[1][2] The Homeric athematic aorist continues an Indo-European root aorist.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning to leap or spring: in the Iliad a goddess leaps into the sea (1.532) and warriors leap to the ground (3.29), and an arrow leaps from the string (4.125).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is used of people leaping and dancing and of animals, fish and insects jumping.^[5] Plato uses it of a breath of wind or an echo bouncing off a surface, and Theocritus of an eye that twitches.^[5] In the New Testament the healed lame man leaps up and walks (Acts 3:8, 14:10), and a spring of water wells up to eternal life (John 4:14), a use that matches Latin salīre.^[6]

Its derivatives include ἅλμα (hálma, “leap”) and ἁλτήρ (haltḗr), the weights athletes held in their hands while jumping.^[2]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of people leaping and of an arrow springing from the string.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus and Euripides use it of dancing.^[5][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of an echo bouncing off a surface.^[5][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of a twitching eye.^[5][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of water welling up.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To leap, jump, spring, bound; to leap in dancing.^[5][4]
2. (of an arrow) To leap forward from the bowstring.^[5][4]
3. (of wind, an echo, a blade) To bounce back.^[5]
4. (of a catch in a mousetrap) To spring up.^[5]
5. (New Testament, of water) To well up, bubble up.^[5][6]
6. (of an eye) To twitch.^[5]

Word family

• ἅλμα (hálma)
• ἅλσις (hálsis)
• ἁλτήρ (haltḗr)
• ἐξάλλομαι (exállomai)
• ἐφάλλομαι (ephállomai)

Related words

• Latin saliō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge