ἵλαος

Forms

ῑ̔́λαος (hī́laos) m or f (neuter ῑ̔́λαον); second declension^[1] Attic and later ἵλεως (hī́leōs) (Attic declension; plural ἵλεῳ), Ionic and Cretan ἵλεος, Aeolic ἴλλαος, Laconian ἵληϝος.^[2][3] In tragedy and in Aristophanes ἵλαος appears only in lyric passages.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

In Beekes's analysis ἵλαος and ἵλεως (hī́leōs) are inherited from Proto-Indo-European *si-sl̥h₂-wo-, an adjective built on the reduplicated stem of ἱλάσκομαι (hīláskomai, “to propitiate”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *selh₂- (“to become gracious”).^[3][5] The Laconian form with ϝ keeps the old shape, and the long ᾱ that Homer has in this word is explained as a remodelling of the Attic form after pairs such as ναός (nāós) : νεώς (neṓs) and λαός (lāós) : λεώς (leṓs).^[4][1] Wiktionary instead takes the long ῑ of the first syllable to be borrowed from the present stem of the verb.^[1]

Following Klingenschmitt, Beekes finds the closest cognate in Old Armenian աղաչեմ (ałačʿem, “to pray”), from *sl̥h₂-sk̑é-; the LIV and Clackson are sceptical of this.^[3][5] Latin sōlor (“to comfort”) is related too, but with an obscure lengthened grade.^[3] Chantraine and Frisk find no certain cognate outside Greek and call the comparison with the Latin verb, Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sels, “good”) and Old High German sālīg remote in form and meaning.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, of the gods: in the Iliad Hephaestus tells Hera that if she soothes Zeus, “the Olympian will be gracious to us” (1.583).^[2][7] Homer also uses it of a person's temper, a gracious heart.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod, Archilochus, Theognis and Pindar use it of gods who are favourable to men, and Attic prose uses ἵλεως, often with εὐμενής (eumenḗs).^[2][8] Of people it means kindly, and sometimes it comes close to ἱλαρός (hilarós), cheerful: in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter the goddess is brought to laugh and take a gracious heart, and in Plato's Laws wine makes a man cheerful.^[2][8] A 5th-century inscription from Mantinea uses it of things that are atoned for and free from blame.^[2]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament ἵλεως is always used of God, merciful to sinners; the Letter to the Hebrews quotes Jeremiah, “I will be merciful toward their iniquities”.^[9][2] The phrase “ἵλεώς σοι”, literally “may God be merciful to you”, means “far be it from you” in Peter's words to Jesus in Matthew 16:22.^[2][9] In later Greek ἵλεως was sometimes treated as indeclinable.^[2]

Modern Greek keeps the related learned ιλαρός (ilarós), “cheerful”, from the same family.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of Zeus being gracious, and of a kindly heart.^[7][2]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Works and Days uses it of the gods.^[2][11][12]
• 7th century BC – Archilochus uses it of a god.^[2][12]
• 5th century BC – An Arcadian inscription from Mantinea uses it of things atoned for.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the Attic form ἵλεως (hī́leōs), also in the sense “cheerful”.^[2][8][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses ἵλεως of God's mercy, and “ἵλεώς σοι” for “far be it from you”.^[9][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of gods: propitious, gracious, merciful.^[2][13][9]
2. (Arcadian) Of things: appeased, atoned for, free of blame.^[2]
3. Of people: kindly, benevolent.^[2][7]
4. Cheerful, in good spirits.^[2][8]
5. In the phrase ἵλεώς σοι: “far be it from you”, “God forbid”.^[2][9]

Word family

• ἱλαρός (hilarós)
• ἵλαθι (hílathi)
• ἱλάσκομαι (hīláskomai)

Related words

• ἵλεως (hī́leōs)
• Latin hilaris

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
9. ^ a b c d e 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
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press