ῥίζα

Forms

ῥῐ́ζᾰ (rhíza) f (genitive ῥῐ́ζης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”).^[1] Aeolic βρίζα (bríza) and Mycenaean Greek wi-ri-za require a Proto-Greek pre-form with initial /w/, a derivative in *-ih₂- of a noun that also survives in Germanic and Celtic.^[2][1][3] Its vowel does not match that of Latin rādīx (“root”), which goes back to the same derivative.^[2]

Cognate with Old Norse rót (“root”) (from Proto-Germanic *wrōt-), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃 (waurts, “root”), Old English wyrt (“herb, plant”) and Welsh gwraidd (“roots”), and possibly Tocharian B witsako (“root”).^[2][1] Because these vowels cannot all be reconciled, Beekes reckons with borrowing between some of the languages, if all the words are related.^[2] Greek ῥάδιξ (rhā́dīx, “branch”) and ῥάδαμνος (rhádamnos, “shoot”) may be related.^[2][4]

Ancient grammarians explained it from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”) and ζάω (záō, “to live”), because life flows up through it, or from ἵζω (hízō, “to sit”) and ἔρα (éra, “earth”), as the part that sits in the earth.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is Mycenaean Greek wi-ri-za on a Knossos tablet, used of wool.^[6][3] In Homer it is the root of a tree or plant: in the Iliad tall trees fall roots and all, and a root is used as a medicine.^[7][7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Homer already used it figuratively, of the roots of the eye.^[7] Hesiod speaks of the roots of the earth, and Aeschylus of the roots of Aetna.^[7][8] The image of origin is frequent in Pindar and tragedy: a root is the source of something, or the stock from which a family springs, and Pindar calls Libya the third root of the continents.^[8][7] Plato and Aristotle use it for the roots of feathers, hair and teeth.^[7] The phrase “from the roots”, meaning root and branch, goes back to the Iliad and is used figuratively by Plutarch.^[8][7]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is the root of a plant, and in Paul's image the root of the olive tree; in imagery it also means a shoot from a root, a descendant.^[10] It survives as Modern Greek ρίζα (ríza), and its senses “root of a word” and “root of a number” are calques on French racine or German Wurzel.^[11] English rhizo- is its combining form.^[12]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – A Knossos tablet has the form wi-ri-za.^[6][3]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the roots of trees and for a medicinal root.^[7][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod speaks of the roots of the earth.^[7][9][13]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the stock of a family and the foundation of a land.^[7][8][13]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the root of the olive tree and for a descendant.^[10]
• Modern Greek – ρίζα is a root, also of a word and of a number.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The root of a tree or plant.^[7][8] ἐκ ῥιζῶν, roots and all.^[8]
2. A root used as a medicine or for magic.^[8][7]
3. The lower part of a tree, the base of the trunk.^[8]
4. (figurative) The roots or depths of something: of the earth, a mountain, the eye, feathers, hair or teeth.^[7][8]
5. A source, origin, foundation.^[8][7]
6. The stock from which a family springs.^[8] (New Testament) A descendant.^[10]

Word family

• ἀργυρόριζος (argurórizos)
• γλυκύρριζα (glukúrrhiza)
• κεφαλόρριζον (kephalórrhizon)
• ῥιζικός (rhizikós)
• ῥίζινος (rhízinos)

Related words

• ῥάδιξ (rhā́dīx)
• Latin rādīx
• English rhizo-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
4. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge