ἔλδομαι

Forms

ἔλδομαι (éldomai) ^[1] Epic ἐέλδομαι (eéldomai), the more frequent form; only the present and imperfect occur.^[2][3]

Etymology

The verb comes from earlier *ϝέλδομαι (*wéldomai), with an initial /w/ that Homer's metre still shows; the commoner epic ἐέλδομαι (eéldomai) is the same verb with a prothetic vowel, from *ἐϝέλδομαι (*ewéldomai).^[3][4][5][1] It has no counterpart outside Greek, but if it is analysed as *wel-d-, with a -d- that forms presents, it belongs to the root Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to wish, want”) of Latin velle (“to want”).^[3][4][6] The DGE reconstructs the root with an initial laryngeal, *h₁wel-.^[7] ἔλπομαι (élpomai, “to hope, expect”) is built on the same root with a -p-.^[3][6][8] Wiktionary also compares Sanskrit वृणीते (vṛṇīté, “chooses”) and English will, and reports that Beekes posits a separate root *h₁weld- found only in Greek.^[1]

Ancient grammarians derived it from ἑλεῖν (heleîn, “to seize”), from ἕλκω (hélkō, “to draw”), or from θέλω (thélō, “to wish”) with Macedonian /d/ for /th/.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, in the present and imperfect only, meaning to wish for or desire something; in the Iliad it is used of coveting another's possessions.^[5][2][11]

Semantic evolution

In Homer it takes an infinitive (to wish to do), an accusative (to desire a thing, to pursue a business) or a genitive (to long for a wife, a meal, sleep); the participle means “longing, eagerly expectant”, and mules “long for” the plain.^[5][12] Once it is passive: “let war be your desire”.^[5][2] After Homer it stays a poetic word: Hesiod and Pindar use it, Plato quotes it from Homer, and Apollonius Rhodius revives it with the compound ἐπέλδομαι (epéldomai).^[11][12][3]

The noun ἐέλδωρ (eéldōr), “wish, desire”, is epic too.^[3][4] Chantraine distinguishes the two verbs: ἔλδομαι desires a goal, while ἔλπομαι expresses hope and expectation in general.^[3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for wishing and longing.^[5][2]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days uses the epic form ἐέλδομαι (eéldomai).^[11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it in the first Olympian ode.^[2][13]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius Rhodius uses it and the compound ἐπέλδομαι (epéldomai).^[12][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wish, to want to do something (with an infinitive).^[2][12][5]
2. To desire or covet a thing; to seek to accomplish (a business).^[12][5]
3. To long for, to be eager for (with a genitive); in the participle, longing, eagerly expectant.^[2][12][5]
4. (passive) To be desired.^[2][5]

Word family

• ἐπέλδομαι (epéldomai)
• ἐέλδωρ (eéldōr)

Related words

• ἔλδωρ (éldōr)
• ἔλπομαι (élpomai)
• ἐλπίς (elpís)
• Latin volo

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 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 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
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
10. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
12. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
13. ^ Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter