ἔταλον

Forms

ἔταλον (étalon) n (genitive ἐτάλου); second declension^[1] Also ἔτελον in an inscription from Cos (3rd century BC).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), the root of ἔτος (étos, “year”), with a suffix in -l-, and so means an animal “of the year”.^[3][4][1] Apart from its gender it is the same word as Latin vitulus (“calf”) and Umbrian vitluf (“calves”), although the i of the Italic forms is irregular.^[3][4] Sanskrit वत्स (vatsá, “calf”) is built on the same word for “year”, and Germanic has an r-stem, as in German Widder (“ram”).^[3][5]

Beekes compares the pattern of the word for “year” beside the forms in -l- with νέφος (néphos) beside νεφέλη (nephélē) and ἄγκος (ánkos) beside ἀγκάλη (ankálē), which suggests that the alternation of the two vowels before the -l- is old.^[3] Chantraine notes that the suffix in -l- alternates with the -s- of the word for “year” and the -n- of ἐπηετανός (epēetanós).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is known only from two dialect inscriptions of the 4th or 3rd century BC.^[4] One, from Aegae in Aeolic Asia Minor, has ἔταλον for a yearling; the other, from Cos, has ἔτελον (ételon) for a young animal, set against the full-grown one (τοῦ τελείου).^[3][4][2] It has been suggested that the Mycenaean tablets write the word in abbreviated form with the syllabic sign we.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Chantraine calls it a near-hapax of the dialects, clearly connected with the word for “year”.^[4] Chæréphon takes it for a horse one year old, while Korinthios and LSJ give it simply as a yearling animal.^[6][7][2]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – An inscription from Aegae uses it for a yearling.^[2][3]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Cos has the form ἔτελον (ételon) for a young animal, as opposed to a full-grown one.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A yearling, a young animal one year old.^[2][3][7]

Related words

• ἔτος (étos)
• ἐπηετανός (epēetanós)
• Latin vitulus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 e f g 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. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
7. ^ a b Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli