ἔλαφος

Forms

ἔλᾰφος (élaphos) m or f (genitive ἐλᾰ́φου); second declension^[1] Mycenaean Greek e-ra-po, in the phrase Mycenaean Greek e-ra-po ri-me-ne.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *éləpʰos,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éln̥bʰos, a form with the suffix *-bʰo- built on the n-stem *h₁el-en- (“deer”).^[1][3][4] The same suffix is found in ἔριφος (ériphos, “kid”).^[4][5]

The by-form ἐλλός (ellós, “fawn”), from *ἐλνός (*elnós), keeps the n of the stem.^[3][4][5] Cognate with Old Armenian եղն (ełn, “hind”), Lithuanian élnis (“deer”), Russian олень (olenʹ, “deer”) and Tocharian B yal (“gazelle”).^[3][1] The DGE also compares Hittite aliyan- (“roe deer”).^[2] Beekes notes the Hesychius gloss ἔνελος (énelos) “fawn”, if it has metathesis from *elen-, but Chantraine finds it obscure.^[3][4]

Ancient writers made up explanations: Plutarch derived it from the deer's power to draw snakes out (ἕλκω (hélkō) + ὄφις (óphis)), the Physiologus from “catching snakes”, and the Etymologicum Gudianum also from ἐλαφρός (elaphrós, “light”), from its speed.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the deer, both the stag and the hind; it is the type of the timid animal, and to have “the heart of a deer” is to be a coward (Iliad 1.225).^[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It is used of both sexes; the feminine plural is the generic term for deer in Homer, Euripides and Xenophon, and Aristotle uses the feminine when he says that deer shed their antlers.^[5][7][2] The hind that Heracles captured and the one put in Iphigenia's place at the sacrifice are famous examples; deer were often offered to Artemis, and the Attic month Ἐλαφηβολιών (Elaphēboliṓn) was named after her deer-hunting festival.^[2][3] In Aesop's fables the deer is a model of foolishness.^[2]

The name was also given to things shaped like a deer: a cake eaten at the festival of the deer-hunting Artemis, a weight at Tegea, and, in the phrase “deer's horn”, a plantain used against snakebite.^[2][5] In the Septuagint the Song of Songs compares the beloved to a deer, which Origen and Gregory of Nyssa read as a figure of Christ.^[2]

The usual Modern Greek word is the diminutive Modern Greek ελάφι (eláfi), from medieval ελάφι(ν), continuing ancient ἐλάφιον (eláphion); έλαφος (élafos) survives as a learned feminine.^[9]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The form Mycenaean Greek e-ra-po is recorded on Linear B tablets.^[2]
• 700s BC – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the stag and the hind.^[8][5][10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar tells of the golden-horned hind captured by Heracles.^[2]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the hind put in Iphigenia's place at the sacrifice.^[2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle notes that deer shed their antlers.^[5][2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch derives the name from the deer's power to draw out snakes.^[6]
• 10th century AD – The Geoponica uses “deer's horn” for a plant.^[5][2]
• Modern Greek – The diminutive ελάφι (eláfi) is the usual word for a deer.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deer, the red deer, either the stag or the hind; in the feminine plural, deer in general.^[5][7]
2. (figurative) A type of timidity and cowardice.^[5][7]
3. Deerskin.^[5][2]
4. A kind of cake shaped like a deer.^[5][2]
5. A weight in the figure of a deer.^[5][2]

Word family

• ἐλάφιον (eláphion)
• ἐλαφηβόλος (elaphēbólos)
• Ἐλαφηβολιών (Elaphēboliṓn)
• τραγέλαφος (tragélaphos)
• ἐλάφειος (elápheios)

Related words

• ἐλλός (ellós)

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 h i j k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c d e 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 d 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
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux