ἐλαχύς

Forms

ἐλᾰχῠ́ς (elakhús) m (feminine ἐλᾰ́χειᾰ, neuter ἐλᾰχῠ́); first/third declension^[1] Feminine ἐλάχεια (elákheia), the only form in early epic; λάχεια (lákheia) in the Odyssey is probably the same word without the prothetic vowel; a thematic masculine ἔλαχος (élakhos) in Callimachus.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *eləkʰús,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁léngʷʰus (“light”), from the zero grade Proto-Indo-European *h₁ln̥gʷʰ-ú- with a prothetic vowel.^[4][5] It is the same adjective as Sanskrit लघु (laghú, “quick, light, small”).^[4][5] The full grade of the root is found in Lithuanian leñgvas and Tocharian B laṅkutse, and Wiktionary adds Old English lēoht;^[4][1] Latin levis lacks the nasal, and Old Church Slavonic льгъкъ (lĭgŭkŭ) has a problematic vowel.^[4][1] Beekes thinks the form without nasal is the oldest, the nasal coming from an old nasal present.^[4]

It is the old positive of the comparative ἐλάσσων (elássōn) and the superlative ἐλάχιστος (elákhistos).^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine ἐλάχεια is first found in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, where Artemis is said to be neither small nor short.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The positive was always rare: early epic has only the feminine, and the masculine and neuter appear only in Hellenistic and later epic, in Callimachus, Euphorion, Nicander, Oppian and Nonnus.^[3][2] The comparative ἐλάσσων and the superlative ἐλάχιστος, built on it, are very common: the GLAUx corpus counts nearly 9,000 forms of the whole group, but the positive itself is rare.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – the Homeric Hymn to Apollo uses the feminine ἐλάχεια.^[3][7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus calls the cicada “little” and has the masculine ἔλαχος.^[6][2][5]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander uses the positive in epic verse.^[3][5]
• 4th–5th century AD – Nonnus still uses it in epic.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Small, little in size; short in stature.^[6][3]

Related words

• ἐλάσσων (elássōn)
• ἐλάχιστος (elákhistos)
• Latin levis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux