ὅλος

Forms

ὅλος (hólos) m (feminine ὅλη, neuter ὅλον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂wós, from *solh₂- (“whole”).^[1] Beekes writes the preform as *sol(H)-uo- (“whole”) and treats the Greek word as identical with Sanskrit सर्व (sárva) and Avestan haurva, both meaning “whole”.^[2] Frisk adds that the Sanskrit word only later came to mean “all, every”.^[3] The derivative ὁλότης (holótēs) “wholeness” has a close parallel in hauruuatāt-, which Beekes and Frisk take to be an independent formation.^[2][3]

Latin salvus (“sound, safe”) belongs to the same group, though its a is hard to explain.^[3][2] Wiktionary also compares sollus.^[1] Epic and Ionic Greek have the form οὖλος (oûlos).^[2][4] The resemblance to English whole is a coincidence, with no etymological connection.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has the word twice, in its Ionic form οὖλος (oûlos): the Odyssey speaks of a whole loaf (ἄρτον οὖλον, 17.343).^[4][2] The vocative οὖλε in Odyssey 24.402 is a greeting, “be well, hail”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek ὅλος means “the whole of, entire”, in Pindar, Aristophanes and the Attic orators, and is often strengthened by πᾶς (pâs).^[6] It can also mean “intact, undamaged”, and with ὑγιής (hugiḗs) “safe and sound”.^[6][4] Xenophon and Demosthenes use it for “utter, sheer”: an utter blunder, an utter fiction.^[4]

Plato uses the neuter τὸ ὅλον for “the whole” or “the universe”, and Aristotle distinguishes it from τὸ πᾶν “the all” as implying a definite order of parts.^[4] The adverb ὅλως (hólōs) means “wholly” and “on the whole, in short”.^[4] As the first part of compounds, such as ὁλόκληρος (holóklēros) “complete in all its parts”, ὅλος is almost only Hellenistic and late, where it took the place of παν-.^[2]

The Septuagint has it more than 270 times, for “whole, entire” and “safe and sound”.^[7] In the New Testament it is never placed between the article and the noun but stands in the predicate position, as in “whole families” (Titus 1:11).^[8] From Sophocles on it can also stand for πᾶς, “all, every”, and it often does in late Greek.^[4] Coptic borrowed it, with records from about AD 300.^[9] Medieval Greek kept it, and it lives on as Modern Greek όλος (ólos) “whole, all”.^[10][11] English holo-, used in scientific terms since the mid-19th century, comes from it.^[5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey has the Ionic form for a whole loaf and the greeting οὖλε.^[4][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar speaks of “the whole eye” of the full moon;^[6][12] Parmenides uses the form οὖλος.^[4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus already writes ὅλος, and Thucydides uses it of destroying a city in its entirety.^[4][6][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Lysias pairs it with ὑγιής, “safe and sound”;^[4][12] Plato uses τὸ ὅλον for the universe.^[4][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle distinguishes τὸ ὅλον from τὸ πᾶν.^[4][12]
• Septuagint – It is used more than 270 times.^[7]
• About AD 300 – The earliest Coptic record of the borrowed word.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It survives as όλος.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Whole, entire, the whole of.^[4][6]
2. Complete in every part, whole (of a loaf, an animal), undamaged (of a chariot, a statue).^[6]
3. Safe and sound.^[4]
4. Utter, sheer: an utter blunder.^[4]
5. All, every, like πᾶς.^[4]
6. (neuter, as a noun) τὸ ὅλον: the whole, the universe;^[4] τὰ ὅλα: one's all, everything one has.^[4]
7. (neuter, as an adverb) ὅλον, τὸ ὅλον: wholly, entirely.^[4]

Word family

• ὁλοσχερής (holoskherḗs)
• ὅλως (hólōs)
• ὁλότης (holótēs)
• ὁλόκληρος (holóklēros)

Related words

• Latin salvus
• English holo-

Usage notes

The epic vocative οὖλε is a greeting, “hail”, and Hesychius records a verb οὐλέω, “to keep in health”.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ 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. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge