Ancient Greek words first recorded in the 5th century BC

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἅπτω (háptō, “to fasten”) + -μα (-ma), a noun of result: “that which is tied”. Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the verb. For ἅπτω (háptō) Beekes, following…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *abnós, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷnós (“lamb”). Cognate with Latin agnus, Old Irish úan, Old Church Slavonic агнѧ (agnę) and Albanian enjë; the…

It is a typical substrate word, from Pre-Greek, according to Beekes and the DGE. The interchange of -γδ- with -σγ- (ἀμυσγέλα (amusgéla)) is a Pre-Greek feature, and the Homeric epithet of Lemnos…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-) + αἰσθητός (aisthētós, “perceptible”), with the privative prefix. The verbal adjective αἰσθητός (aisthētós) belongs to αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai, “to…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀναλύω (analúō, “to unloose”) + -σις (-sis). The verb is made of ἀνά (aná, “up, back”) and λύω (lúō, “to loosen”), which Beekes traces to Proto-Indo-European *leh₁u-…

The origin is disputed. Prellwitz derived it from ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”), and Strömberg supported this, so that it would be a “wind flower”. Etymonline explains the ending as the feminine…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “up”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way, road”), “the way up”. Its opposite is κάθοδος (káthodos, “way down”). Beekes traces the noun to Proto-Indo-European *sod-…

It is the agent noun from Ancient Greek ἀνταγωνίζομαι (antagōnízomai, “to struggle against, compete with”) + -τής (-tḗs). The verb is ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to contend for a prize”) with the…

It is from Ancient Greek ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “uneven, irregular”) with the suffix -ία (-ía). The adjective is ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”) with the privative prefix ἀν- (an-) and the lengthening…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”), with the initial vowel of the second part lengthened in the compound. ὁμαλός (homalós) is formed like Latin similis…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἁ- (ha-, “one, same”) + -πλόος (-plóos, “-fold”), the opposite of διπλόος (diplóos, “double”). Frisk takes the form ἁπλός (haplós) as formally identical with Latin…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeíknumi, “to show forth, prove”) + -σις (-sis), a verbal noun. The verb is ἀπο- (apo-) with δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”), whose root…

It is from Ancient Greek ἀποτίθημι (apotíthēmi, “to put away, store”), formed from ἀπο- (apo-, “away”) and τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”). Τίθημι is from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).

It is from Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “off, away”) + καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”). Beekes considers the simple verb Pre-Greek: its root appears with ⟨β⟩, ⟨π⟩ and ⟨φ⟩, as in καλύβη (kalúbē, “hut”), and…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀπο- (apo-) and a simple verb that is not attested, Proto-Hellenic *lāwō, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“profit, gain, booty”). LSJ notes that the simple verb…

It is from Ancient Greek ἀποστέλλω (apostéllō, “to send off”), formed from ἀπο- (apo-, “away”) and στέλλω (stéllō, “to send”). Στέλλω is from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to set up, prepare”).

It is a verbal adjective from Ancient Greek ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), which is ἀπο- (apo-, “away”) with στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”). The feminine noun for the mark of elision stands…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (árthron, “joint”) + -ῖτις (-îtis). It looks like the feminine of an adjective *ἀρθρίτης (*arthrítēs), which is not attested; the feminine agrees with an…

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-dʰrom, formed from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit”) with the instrument suffix *-dʰrom, so “fitting”. Within Greek it belongs to the family of…

It is a compound from Ancient Greek ἄριστος (áristos, “best”) + -κρατία (-kratía, “rule”), the element, from κράτος (krátos, “power, rule”): “rule of the best”.

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-smo- (“joint”), from the root *h₂er- (“to fit together, join”), which is also the root of ἀραρίσκω (ararískō, “to join, fit together”). Wiktionary…

It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew עֵרָבוֹן (ʿērāḇōn, “pledge”) or a related Semitic form, which Rosół counts among the accepted Semitic loanwords. The Semitic family includes Akkadian erubbātu…

It is from Ancient Greek ἀείρω (aeírō, “to bind, hang up”), like the word ἀορτή (aortḗ) with a similar meaning. Wiktionary and LSJ take it as contracted from an unattested *ἀερτηρία (*aertēría) or…

It is a compound from Ancient Greek ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “chief”) + τέκτων (téktōn, “builder, carpenter”). The prefix comes from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to lead, rule”). The Etymologicum Magnum explains it the same…

1. The spice word is of unknown origin. Beekes, Chantraine and Frisk find no explanation and only mention a hypothesis of Wood, and Beekes refers to Chantraine for the suffix -ωμα (-ōma). Wiktionary…

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr) + -ειδής (-eidḗs), “star-like”, the second element meaning “having the form of”.

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and the element -λογία (-logía, “study”).

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) + νομή (nomḗ, “distribution, arrangement”).

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τομή (tomḗ, “a cut”), with the o-grade stem τομ- (tom-) of τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”): literally “uncut”. The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European…

from Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”), from the family of the verb αὔω (aúō), “to dry”. Beekes notes that it and αὐσταλέος (austaléos), “dried up”, presuppose a verbal adjective *αὖστος (*aûstos)…

It is a compound from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + κράτος (krátos, “power, rule”), like ναυκράτωρ (naukrátōr). The second member κράτωρ (krátōr) does not occur as a word on its own. Beekes…

The neuter of the adjective from Ancient Greek αὐτόματος (autómatos, “acting of one's own accord”), used as a noun. The adjective is a compound of αὐτός (autós, “self”) and -ματος (-matos), the zero…

It is formed from Ancient Greek αὐτόνομος (autónomos, “living by one's own laws”) + -ία (-íā), the adjective being a compound of αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) and νόμος (nómos, “law, custom”). The New Pauly…

It is a compound from Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) + νόμος (nómos, “custom, law”). Chantraine cites it among the many compounds of this kind. The noun νόμος (nómos) is derived from νέμω…

The origin is disputed. An old explanation takes it as the privative prefix with φύω (phúō, “to grow”), “not grown”, like the fish name “nonnats” used in Nice. Frisk regarded this as folk etymology…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek: the suffix -νθ- (-nth-) proves it, as in τέρμινθος (términthos), ἐρέβινθος (erébinthos) and ὑάκινθος (huákinthos). Frisk also infers a pre-Greek origin from this…

It is a diminutive from Ancient Greek βακτηρία (baktēría, “staff, stick”). Beekes lists it among the forms of that word, beside βακτηρίδιον (baktērídion) and βακτηρίς (baktērís). Beekes explains the…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek: bathing in warm water was probably an Aegean custom, as the Pre-Greek ἀσάμινθος (asáminthos, “bathtub”) suggests, and the structure of the word, with initial β-, the…

It is a derivation from Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”), with the verbal suffix -ίζω (-ízō). How “throw” came to mean “dance” is not quite clear. The DGE notes another proposal, which…

It is formed from Ancient Greek βάπτω (báptō, “to dip”) + -ίζω (-ízō), which Beekes lists among the derivatives of that verb. Babiniotis describes it as a deverbative formation from the same verb. A…

It is from Ancient Greek βασιλικός (basilikós, “royal, kingly”), its feminine used as a noun with a feminine noun understood: τέχνη (tékhnē, “art”) for “the art of ruling”, ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “rule”) for…

It is formed from Ancient Greek βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”) + -ικός (-ikós).

It is generally connected with βάσκειν (báskein, “to speak, to speak ill”), a verb known only from Hesychius, and so from Ancient Greek βάζω (bázō, “to speak”). Both Frisk and Beekes note, however…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *bzdḗō, from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to break wind”), an old Indo-European verb. The Greek verb must go back to a form *βζδέω (*bzdéō), with the voiced…

It is borrowed from Phoenician 𐤁𐤕 (bt), the West Semitic name of the second letter of the alphabet. Rosół compares Biblical Hebrew בֵּית (bêṯ), written βηθ (bēth) in Greek transcription, Classical…

It is formed from Ancient Greek βύβλος (búblos, “papyrus”) + -ιον (-ion), a diminutive, and was first spelled βυβλίον (bublíon); the form with ⟨ι⟩ in the first syllable became the usual one…

It is formally from Ancient Greek βλάσφημος (blásphēmos) + -έω (-éō), but Beekes and Frisk point out that the verb and the noun βλασφημία (blasphēmíā) are attested earlier than βλάσφημος, which is…

Wiktionary takes it as from Ancient Greek βλάσφημος (blásphēmos, “evil-speaking”) with the suffix -ία (-ía). Beekes and Frisk point out, however, that βλασφημέω (blasphēméō, “to speak profanely…

It is probably onomatopoeic. Beekes notes that πέμφιξ (pémphix) and πομφόλυξ (pomphóluks), variants of βέμβιξ (bémbix), show typical Pre-Greek features, such as the variation of /p/, /b/ and /ph/…

A compound: from Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs, “cow”) + τυρός (turós, “cheese”), literally “cow-cheese”: a noun made from a possessive compound, like βούσταθμον (boústathmon) beside σταθμός (stathmós)…

It is a technical term without an etymology. Furnée, cited by Beekes, takes it as Pre-Greek, comparing Hesychius' gloss ἀμυρτόν (amurtón, “cloth”), and Beekes allows that this may be so. Wiktionary…

It is clearly related to γνάμπτω (gnámptō, “to bend”), but the absence of the /n/ is hard to explain. Leumann's view, accepted by Frisk, Chantraine and the DGE, starts from the older compound…

Beekes calls it an onomatopoeic formation with reduplication. Chantraine likewise sees an expressive reduplicated word, found only in comedy and the lexicographers, and allows that γαργαρίζω…

It is formed from Ancient Greek γεωγράφος (geōgráphos, “geographer”) + -ία (-ía), or equally γεω- (geō-) with -γραφία (-graphía). The parts are γῆ (gê, “earth”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write, draw”).

It is a compound from Ancient Greek γεω- (geō-, “land”) + -μετρία (-metríā, “measurement”). Πάπυρος derives it from γεωμέτρης (geōmétrēs, “land surveyor, geometer”). The first element is the…

It is formed from Ancient Greek γεωμέτρης (geōmétrēs, “geometer, land-measurer”) + -ικός (-ikós). The Μείζον derives it from γεωμετρία (geōmetríā, “geometry”) instead. The base is a compound of γῆ…

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *glúpʰō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut out, split”). Greek has the zero grade in the verb and all its derivatives, while Germanic keeps the…

It is formed from Ancient Greek γράμμα (grámma, “letter”) + -ικός (-ikós), “of letters”.

It is a noun from Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “to scratch, draw, write”). The stem comes from a zero grade, Proto-Indo-European *gr̥bʰ-, of Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch, carve”), whose…

It is probably a Semitic loanword. Rosół's source is borrowed from Akkadian gaṣṣu (“gypsum”), with Aramaic and Syriac gaṣṣā and Arabic ǧiṣṣ, noting that Semitic /ṣ/ rendered as ψ has no parallel in…