ἆθλος

Forms

ἆθλος (âthlos) m (genitive ᾱ̓́θλου); second declension^[1] Epic and Ionic ἄεθλος (áethlos), the only form in Homer except once in the Odyssey.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is contracted from ἄεθλος (áethlos), earlier *ἄϝεθλος (*áwethlos), whose /w/ is still written in Arcadian ἄϝεθλα (áwethla); the neuter ἆθλον (âthlon, “prize”) is the same word.^[4][5][2] Its origin is not established.^[6][7] Beekes takes the original sense to be “contest for a prize” and finds the word Indo-European in shape, pointing to a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂wedʰ- (“to contest”) with no cognates outside Greek.^[4][1] The DGE compares Sanskrit वायति (vāyati, “to be tired”), but Beekes rejects this.^[5][4] An older explanation, reported by Wiktionary, derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”) with an instrument suffix, as if “panting”.^[1]

Chantraine discusses whether the first sense was “labour” or “contest”, and inclines to contests and games, since the general sense appears only in the Odyssey and the later parts of the Iliad.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer, in the form ἄεθλος (áethlos), it is a contest, above all one for a prize, in sport or in war; in the plural it means games, or struggles in war; the Iliad also uses it for the labours of Heracles.^[2][3][6][8]

Semantic evolution

The Odyssey uses it for feats, for the contest for the arms of Achilles and, in the plural, for troubles and hardships.^[3][2] Hesiod has the contracted form, and in the lyric poets and tragedy it becomes a struggle, ordeal or labour: Alcaeus and Aeschylus use it of trials, Pindar of toil.^[9][2][3] Herodotus speaks of a task that is set someone, Sophocles of the Pythian games, and Diodorus of the labours of Heracles.^[2] Theocritus once uses it for the prize itself.^[3]

Modern Greek has the learned άθλος (áthlos), a great or difficult feat, as in the twelve labours of Heracles.^[10][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use ἄεθλος (áethlos) for contests, games and labours.^[2][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony has the contracted form.^[9][5]
• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it of a struggle or ordeal.^[2][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of ordeals, and Pindar of toil.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of a task set someone, and Sophocles of the Pythian games.^[2][5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it for a prize.^[3][5]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus uses it for the labours of Heracles.^[2][5]
• Modern Greek – The learned άθλος (áthlos) means a great feat.^[10][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A contest, above all one for a prize; a trial of strength or skill.^[2][3]
2. (plural) Games, as an organised event.^[3][2]
3. (plural) Struggles in war; feats of an individual.^[3]
4. A labour, task, trial, ordeal; in the plural, troubles, hardships; the labours of Heracles.^[2][3]
5. A prize in a contest.^[3]

Related words

• ἆθλον (âthlon)
• ἀθλέω (athléō)
• ἀθλητής (athlētḗs)
• ἔπαθλον (épathlon)

Usage notes

Ammonius distinguishes the masculine, the contest, from the neuter ἆθλον (âthlon), the prize.^[11] Photius and the Lexica Segueriana add that the masculine can also mean the deed and the prize, while the neuter properly means the prize.^[11][12][13]

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 k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b [Ammonius], De adfinium vocabulorum differentia, ed. K. Nickau (Leipzig: Teubner, 1966)
12. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
13. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck