ἕλκω

Forms

ἕλκω (hélkō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to pull, draw”).^[2][1][3] The cognate verb is Tocharian B sälkā- (“to draw out”); nominal formations are Old Armenian հեղգ (hełg, “slow”), Latin sulcus (“furrow”) and Old English sulh (“plough”).^[2][1] Albanian heq (“to draw”) may continue an old iterative Proto-Indo-European *solk-éi̯e-.^[2]

The DGE also mentions Lithuanian velkù and Old Church Slavonic vlěko (vlěšti), from a variant *su̯elk-, though Greek shows no trace of ϝ.^[4] The verb is not related to ἄλοξ (álox) or to ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound”).^[2][1] Within Greek, ὁλκός (holkós) belongs with it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means to draw or drag: a corpse behind a chariot, a ship to the sea, a sword from its sheath, a bow, and the sails up the mast.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From Homer on the verb covers much of English “pull”: horses and oxen draw a chariot or a plough, the setting sun draws night after it, and scales are lifted up to weigh.^[5][6] After Homer it is used for towing a ship, dragging someone into court, and treating someone with violence.^[5]

Herodotus uses it of the sun drawing up water, of drawing out excuses and of a war dragging on, and of an offering that weighs ten talents, “draws down” the balance.^[5] It also means to attract: Euripides uses it of the magnet, Theocritus of a love spell, and Plato of what draws people towards pleasure or philosophy.^[5] In the New Testament it is used of drawing a sword and hauling a net.^[7]

The word was borrowed in Latin helcium and helciarius.^[8] Modern Greek έλκω (élko) is a learned word meaning to pull, tow or attract.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for dragging, drawing a sword or bow, and hoisting sails.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of oxen drawing the plough.^[6][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for drawing up water, for weighing and for a war dragging on.^[5][4]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of the magnet's attraction.^[5][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of being drawn towards pleasure or philosophy.^[5][4]
• New Testament – The New Testament uses it for drawing a sword and hauling a net.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned verb, “to pull, attract”.^[9][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw, drag, haul a person, a corpse, a ship; passive, to be dragged.^[5][6][7]
2. Of draught animals: to draw a chariot, wagon or plough.^[6]
3. To draw a bow or a sword; to hoist sails; to raise scales.^[5]
4. To tear, of nails or dogs.^[5]
5. To tow a ship; to drag into court; to maltreat.^[5]
6. To draw up or in, of water and air; to breathe.^[5]
7. To drag out a life; to protract; intransitive, to drag on.^[5]
8. To attract, of a magnet or a spell; to draw on, towards pleasure.^[5]
9. Of things weighed: to weigh so much.^[5]
10. To derive from a source.^[5]

Related words

• ὁλκός (holkós)
• Latin sulcus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
4. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας