Etymologically
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ἧλος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /hɛ̂ː.los/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈi.los/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈi.los/[1]

Forms

ἧλος (hêlos) m (genitive ἥλου); second declension[1] Doric ἇλος (Epidaurus, Delphi, Pindar); perhaps Aeolic ϝάλλοι (plural), written γάλλοι in Hesychius.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[3] Hesychius' gloss γάλλοι (gálloi), explained as “nails”, may stand for an Aeolic ϝάλλοι (wálloi), so ἧλος may come from *ϝάλνος (*wálnos) or *ϝάλσος (*wálsos) and could be the same word as Latin vallus (“stake of a palisade”), as Wackernagel proposed and Schrijver still holds;[3][4] if so, it is from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn”).[1] Frisk notes that the difference in meaning remains a difficulty.[4] There is no certain trace of the digamma in Homer, since the compound ἀργυρόηλος (arguróēlos, “silver-studded”) may be shaped by the metre.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is an ornamental nail-head or stud: the Iliad has a sceptre studded with golden nails (1.246), and golden studs on a sword (11.29) and on a cup (11.633).[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

After Homer it is any nail: Pindar has the Doric form, Xenophon iron and wooden spikes in a trap, Aristophanes nails used to tighten bonds, and Theophrastus hobnails on a shoe.[2][6] Plato uses it too.[6][7] From its shape it came to mean a wart or callus, in Theophrastus, Nicander and Dioscorides, and an excrescence on plants.[2] The Placita uses it of the stars.[2]

In the New Testament it is used of the nails of the crucifixion and the marks they left (John 20:25).[8] Medieval vernacular Greek kept it for a nail, a swelling and a callus.[9] Modern Greek uses ήλος as a learned word for a nail, as in the phrase “to put one's finger in the print of the nails”.[10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for golden studs on a sceptre, a sword and a cup.[2][5]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the Doric form ἇλος for a nail.[2][11]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for iron and wooden spikes.[2][6][11]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle quotes the proverb “nail by nail”.[2][6][11]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for hobnails and for a wart.[2][11]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospel of John uses it for the nails of the crucifixion.[8]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for a nail.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A nail-head or stud, as an ornament on a sword, cup or staff.[6][2]
  2. A nail, rivet or peg; a spike; a hobnail.[6][2]
  3. (medicine) A wart or callus; an excrescence on plants.[2]

Word family

  • ἀργυρόηλος (arguróēlos)
  • ἡλάριον (hēlárion)
  • ἡλίσκος (hēlískos)
  • ἡλίτης (hēlítēs)
  • ἡλῖτις (hēlîtis)
  • ἡλόω (hēlóō)

Usage notes

The proverb ἥλῳ ὁ ἧλος, “a nail by a nail”, meaning that one thing is driven out by another of its kind, is quoted by Aristotle and Lucian.[6][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ a b 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
  9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge