ὀμφαλός

Forms

ὀμφᾰλός (omphalós) m (genitive ὀμφᾰλοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃m̥bʰ-l̥- (“navel”), an old word for the navel, from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₃nebʰ- (“navel, hub”).^[2][1][3] It corresponds closely to Latin umbilīcus (probably from an older *umbilus) and to Old Irish imbliu, from Proto-Celtic *imbilon-.^[2] Beekes takes it as an originally athematic l-stem, perhaps kept in the Epirotic tribal name Ὄμφαλες (Ómphales), which alternates with an n-stem in Latin umbō (“boss of a shield”) and in Old High German amban (“belly”).^[2]

Other languages have a different ablaut grade of the root: Sanskrit नाभि (nā́bhi, “navel, nave”), Old Prussian nabis (“navel”), Latvian naba (“navel”), Old High German naba (“nave of a wheel”) and Old High German nabalo (“navel”), whose suffix matches the Greek one.^[2] Old English nafola, the ancestor of English navel, belongs here too.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the navel, and also the boss in the middle of a shield and the knob on a yoke.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The Odyssey speaks of an island where the “navel of the sea” is, its central point.^[5][6] From Pindar and Aeschylus on, the omphalos is the centre of the earth at Delphi, a round stone in the temple there;^[5][6] Pindar also uses it of an altar at Athens.^[5][6] The Hippocratic writers use it for the umbilical cord.^[5] Later it named other round knobs: the plug closing the outlet of a bath, and the knobs at the ends of the stick on which a book roll was wound (Lucian).^[5]

It survives as the learned Modern Greek ομφαλός (omfalós).^[8][9] English borrowed it in 1850 as English omphalos, a sacred stone.^[4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the navel and the boss of a shield; the Odyssey has the “navel of the sea”.^[5][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus call Delphi the navel of the earth.^[5][6][10]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it for the umbilical cord.^[5][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the navel as a measure of height.^[6][10]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for the knobs of a book roll.^[5][10]
• 1850 – English borrows it as omphalos.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The navel.^[5][6]
2. The umbilical cord.^[5][6]
3. A knob or boss, above all in the middle of a shield; the knob in the middle of a yoke.^[5][6]
4. A plug closing the outlet of a bath; the knobs at the ends of the stick of a book roll.^[5]
5. A centre or middle point: the “navel of the sea”; the navel of the earth at Delphi.^[5][6]
6. A kind of large cake.^[6]

Word family

• ἐπομφάλιος (epomphálios)
• μεσόμφαλος (mesómphalos)
• ὀμφαλητόμος (omphalētómos)
• ὀμφαλόεις (omphalóeis)
• ὀμφαλωτός (omphalōtós)
• σαρκόμφαλον (sarkómphalon)

Related words

• ὄμφαξ (ómphax)
• Latin umbilīcus
• Latin umbō
• English omphalos
• English navel

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 f g h i j k l 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. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge