Etymologically
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ἴουλος

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Pronunciation

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

Forms

ἴουλος (íoulos) m (genitive ἰούλου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is a reduplicated noun, from Proto-Hellenic *wíwolnos (compare ἴονθος (íonthos)),[2][3] from the root Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind”).[1][2] It is related to οὖλος (oûlos, “woolly, curly”) and εἰλέω (eiléō, “to turn, wind”), from *ϝελνέω (*welnéō).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first example is in the Odyssey, which speaks of two whose down had not yet bloomed under their temples: the plural means the first growth of the beard.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the Odyssey on the word meant the soft first hair of a young man's cheeks, in the singular from Aeschylus on.[5][6] It also meant a sheaf of corn, and a harvest song to Demeter, who was called Ἰουλώ (Ioulṓ) from it.[5][3] Theophrastus used it for the catkin of trees and for a tendril.[5] Aristotle and Theophrastus gave the name to a creature like a centipede, probably the woodlouse, and a later writer to the earthworm; the fish ἰουλίς (ioulís) was named after that creature.[5][3] Modern Greek has ίουλος (íoulos) as a learned word for the catkin.[4][7]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses the plural for the first beard.[5][6]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the singular in the Seven against Thebes.[5][8]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a creature like a centipede.[5][8]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the catkin of a tree.[5][8]
  • Modern Greek – ίουλος (íoulos) survives as a learned word for the catkin.[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Down, the first growth of the beard and whiskers.[5][6]
  2. A sheaf of corn.[5][6]
  3. A harvest song in honour of Demeter.[5]
  4. (botany) A catkin; a tendril.[5]
  5. A creature like a centipede, probably the woodlouse; also the earthworm.[5][2]
  6. A fish, the same as the ἰουλίς (ioulís).[5]

Word family

  • ἰουλίζω (ioulízō)
  • ἰουλίς (ioulís)
  • ἰουλόπεζος (ioulópezos)
  • ἰουλοφόρος (ioulophóros)
  • ἰουλώδης (ioulṓdēs)
  • οὖλος (oûlos)
  • εἰλέω (eiléō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge