Etymologically
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ἥλιος

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /hɛ̌ː.li.os/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈi.li.os/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈi.li.os/[1]

Forms

ἥλῐος (hḗlios) m (genitive ἡλῐ́ου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *hāwélios, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”), through a derived form *sāwélios.[1] The Cretan form ἀβέλιος (abélios) in Hesychius, that is ἀϝέλιος (awélios), points to an original *σαϝέλιος (*sāwélios), which differs only in vowel grade from Sanskrit सूर्य (sū́rya, “sun”).[2][3] Both languages built it on an /l/-stem with a personifying suffix *-yo-.[2] Epic has ἠέλιος (ēélios), Doric, Aeolic and Arcadian ἀέλιος (aélios).[2][4]

Cognate with Latin sōl (“sun”), Lithuanian sáulė (“sun”), Welsh haul (“sun”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌹𐌻 (sauil, “sun”) and Old Church Slavonic слъньце (slŭnĭce, “sun”); the old heteroclite noun with /n/ survives in Avestan huuarə (huuarə, “sun”) and in 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌽𐍉 (sunnō, “sun”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses the form ἠέλιος, as in the first book of the Iliad (1.475), and the Odyssey opens with the cattle of Helios, the Sun (1.8).[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In Homer to “see the light of the sun” is to be alive, and the sun's rising and setting mark east and west.[6] It also meant sunlight and sunshine, the day, and the east.[6][1] The Sun was a god, whose daughters were the Ἡλιάδες (Hēliádes) (Parmenides, Apollonius of Rhodes).[2]

Compounds named plants and animals after it, such as ἡλιοτρόπιον (hēliotrópion).[2] Medieval and Modern Greek ήλιος continues it, and ήλιος also names the sunflower, which resembles the sun and turns towards it.[7]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the sun.[5][4]
  • Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses ἠέλιος.[4][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the Doric ἀέλιος.[4][8]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use ἅλιος in lyric passages.[4][8]
  • Modern Greek – ήλιος means sun and sunflower.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sun.[4][6]
  2. Sunlight, sunshine.[6][1]
  3. The day.[1]
  4. The east.[1][6]

Proper noun

  1. Helios, the Sun god.[2][4]

Word family

  • ἀνήλιος (anḗlios)
  • ἀντήλιος (antḗlios)
  • ἀπηλιώτης (apēliṓtēs)
  • δυσήλιος (dusḗlios)
  • εὐήλιος (euḗlios)
  • ἡλιακός (hēliakós)
  • ἡλίασις (hēlíasis)
  • ἡλιοειδής (hēlioeidḗs)
  • ἡλιόομαι (hēlióomai)
  • ἡλιοτρόπιον (hēliotrópion)
  • ἡλιῶτις (hēliôtis)
  • προσήλιος (prosḗlios)
  • ἀνθήλιος (anthḗlios)
  • ἀφηλιώτης (aphēliṓtēs)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge