ἔλαιον

Forms

ἔλαιον (élaion) n (genitive ἐλαίου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, like ἐλαία (elaía, “olive tree, olive”), from which it is derived.^[2][3] The older forms had a w: Mycenaean e-ra3-wo and Cypriot ἔλαιϝον (élaiwon) show Proto-Hellenic *élaiwon.^[2][1][4] Chantraine says that a Mediterranean borrowing is universally accepted, and both he and Beekes think that an Armenian word for “oil” may come from the same source.^[5][2] Rosół rejects a derivation from Akkadian ulû (“finest oil”).^[6]

The word was borrowed as Latin oleum, and olīva reflects the older form of the word for the olive; all the other European forms come from Latin.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean already has it as Mycenaean Greek e-ra3-wo.^[4][2] In Homer it is mostly the oil for anointing the body after a bath, sometimes perfumed with roses.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Olive oil was used for cooking, for lamps and for anointing, and athletes oiled themselves for wrestling; inscriptions record oil provided at baths and gymnasia.^[8][3] Herodotus uses the word for mineral oil, the Hippocratic writers for rose oil and goose oil, Dioscorides for oils of castor and almond, and Aristotle for an oil from cartilaginous fish.^[8][3] At Athens τὸ ἔλαιον could mean the oil market.^[3] A proverb spoke of quenching fire with oil.^[3]

Frisk notes that the great economic importance of oil produced many compounds, especially from the Hellenistic period on.^[9] The diminutive ἐλᾴδιον (elāídion) became Byzantine ἐλάδιν, λάδιν and Modern Greek λάδι (ládi), the everyday word for oil, beside the learned έλαιο (élaio).^[1] All the other European words for oil come from Latin oleum.^[2]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The Linear B tablets have Mycenaean Greek e-ra3-wo.^[4][2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for anointing oil.^[3][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for mineral oil, and the Hippocratic writers for rose oil.^[8][3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes an oil from cartilaginous fish.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides names oils of castor and almond.^[3][4]
• Modern Greek – The everyday word is λάδι (ládi), from the diminutive, beside the learned έλαιο (élaio).^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. Olive oil, used for cooking, lamps and anointing.^[8][3]
2. Any oily substance: oil from other plants or animals; mineral oil.^[3][8]
3. (Athens) The oil market.^[3]

Word family

• ἐλαιοπώλης (elaiopṓlēs)
• ὑδρέλαιον (hudrélaion)
• ἐλαιών (elaiṓn)
• ἐλᾴδιον (elāídion)

Related words

• ἐλάα (elā́ā)
• ἐλαία (elaíā)
• ἐλαίη (elaíē)
• ἔλαιος (élaios)
• ἐλᾷς (elâis)
• Latin oleum
• English oil

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 e f g h i j k l m 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 Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ 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. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux