Ancient Greek words first recorded in the 5th century BC

It is a borrowing from Semitic: Beekes and Frisk compare the Hebrew name of the letter, and Wiktionary takes it as borrowed from Phoenician 𐤉𐤃 (yd, “the letter y”). Rosół counts it among the early…

It is formed from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Πάπυρος notes that its link with καθέζομαι (kathézomai, “to sit down”) was still felt. The second element belongs to…

It is formed from Ancient Greek καθόλου (kathólou, “on the whole, in general”) + -ικός (-ikós). The adverb is itself the phrase κατά (katá) with ὅλος (hólos, “whole”), “according to the whole”.

Beekes calls it a foreign word of unknown origin and marks it as possibly Pre-Greek: Furnée took the cluster ⟨κτ⟩ as a Pre-Greek feature and compared ἀκακία (akakía). Chantraine and Frisk give no…

The origin is uncertain. It recalls Avestan kamarā (kamarā, “girdle”), whose meaning is different but appears in the Hesychius glosses καμάρη (kamárē) and καμαρίς (kamarís), which Frisk thinks were…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because it has no Indo-European etymology and no pre-form in the parent language is possible: Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ndʰ- would have given *καθ- (*kath-) in Greek…

It is borrowed from Akkadian qanû (“reed”), a word that may itself come from Sumerian. Rosół counts it among the Semitic loanwords in Greek, and PHILOGLOSSA rates the Semitic origin as very…

It is a loanword of unknown eastern origin, perhaps Scythian or Thracian, as Herodotus' account of the plant suggests. Beekes and Frisk compare Sumerian kunibu (“hemp”). Wiktionary calls it a…

It is borrowed from Phoenician 𐤊 (k), the Semitic name of the eleventh letter of the alphabet. Beekes and Frisk compare Biblical Hebrew כַּף (kap̄). Babiniotis takes the name as the North Semitic…

The origin is unknown. Beekes classes it as a loanword from the East: Berger compared Persian کبر (kabar, “caper”) and the Burushaski word for the caper, which would point to a source somewhere in…

It probably continues inherited from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to grasp, snap”), as a zero-grade present with the suffix *-yé-. In form it may be identical with Latin capiō (“to take”) and the…

The origin is disputed. Since Kretschmer it has usually been taken from the name of Κάστωρ (Kástōr), one of the Dioscuri, who was invoked as a saviour of women, because castoreum, the beaver's…

It is formed from Ancient Greek καταλαμβάνω (katalambánō, “to seize”) + -σις (-sis), with the noun suffix added to the verb's stem καταληπ- (katalēp-). The verb is made of κατά (katá) and λαμβάνω…

It is formed from Ancient Greek καταλύω (katalū́ō, “to dissolve, to put an end to; to unharness, to lodge”) + -σις (-sis); it can also be analysed as κατα- (kata-) and λύσις (lúsis, “loosening”).

It is an agent noun in -της (-tēs) from Ancient Greek καταρράσσω (katarrhássō, “to dash down”), a compound of κατά (katá, “down”) and ῥάσσω (rhā́ssō, “to strike, dash”). The word thus first meant…

It is from Ancient Greek καταρρέω (katarrhéō, “to flow down”), with the suffix -ος (-os). The verb is made of κατά (katá, “down”) and ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”).

It is from Ancient Greek κατηγορέω (katēgoréō, “to accuse; to assert”), with the suffix -ία (-ía). The verb is from κατήγορος (katḗgoros, “accuser”), or directly from κατά (katá, “against”) and…

It is formed from Ancient Greek καυστός (kaustós, “burnt, combustible”) + -ικός (-ikós). Καυστός is the verbal adjective of καίω (kaíō, “to burn”). Beekes traces the verb to a root καυ- (kau-), and…

It is the verbal adjective from Ancient Greek καίω (kaíō, “to burn”). All the forms of that verb go back to a root καυ- (kau-), and Beekes, for its further etymology, has to rely on Baltic words…

It is formed from Ancient Greek κέραμος (kéramos, “potter's clay; tile; earthen jar”) + -ικός (-ikós), one of several adjectives of material made from that noun in Ionic and Attic. BDAG notes that…

It is formed from Ancient Greek κινέω (kinéō, “to move”) + -μα (-ma), a noun of result from the verb. Beekes traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *ḱeih₂- (“to set in motion”), and notes that the…

It is formed from Ancient Greek κίνησις (kī́nēsis, “motion”) + -ικός (-ikós). Etymonline and Πάπυρος derive it instead from the verbal adjective κινητός (kīnētós, “moved, movable”). Either way its…

It is a Semitic loanword: Herodotus says that the Greeks learned the name from the Phoenicians, borrowed from Phoenician. Compare Biblical Hebrew קִנָּמוֹן (qinnāmôn, “cinnamon”), which the…

It is a compound from Ancient Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, “to steal”) + ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”), literally “water thief”. Beekes describes it as a governing compound with the first member κλέψαι (klépsai)…

It is formed from Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō, “to call”) + -σις (-sis), with the monosyllabic stem κλη- (klē-) of the verb. Beekes counts it among the derivatives of the verb built on that stem…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek. Following Kuiper, he connects it with κλάδος (kládos, “branch”): the nasal would replace the δ of that word, and the vowels α and ω would vary, both features of…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, because of its suffix -ᾱλος (-ālos) and its variants κόαλος (kóalos) (plural), κοάλεμος (koā́lemos) “blockhead” and καυαλός (kaualós). It belongs to…

Beekes takes it as probably Pre-Greek: it is clearly cognate with κόχλος (kókhlos) “spiral shell, snail”, and the variation between the two (prenasalization), confirmed by variants such as κοκάλια…

Beekes considers it more probably Pre-Greek than a Lydian loan, which Jongkees proposed on the strength of the ending and of a passage of Herodotus on the Lydians. Babiniotis gives the Lydian loan…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, a lowly word with no clear etymology, and takes the verb κολάπτω (koláptō, “to peck, to chisel”) to be its denominative; he points to the suffix it shares with…

The origin is uncertain. Frisk and Chantraine take it as a feminine noun formed with a yod suffix, but its further history is obscure. Since Fick it has been compared with the Slavic word for glue…

Beekes calls the origin uncertain but considers the word Pre-Greek, because of the suffix ⟨-υμβ-⟩ and the variant κολυμφάω (kolumpháō) of the verb κολυμβάω (kolumbáō, “to dive”). He explains the…

It is formed from Ancient Greek κομάω (komáō, “to have long hair”) + -της (-tēs), ⟨κομάω⟩ being from κόμη (kómē, “hair”). The comet was named the “long-haired star” because its tail was imagined as…

It is borrowed from Egyptian qmyt (“acacia resin, gum”), or from qmy (“anointing oil”). Athenaeus already called it a foreign word. From κόμμι came Latin cummi, later gummi, the source of the other…

In Chantraine's and Wiktionary's view it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-is (“cutting, gnawing”), an old verbal noun of the root *(s)ker- (“to cut”) that is seen in κείρω (keírō, “to…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek. Following Furnée he compares κόφος (kóphos, “basket-load”) and the Hesychian glosses κοψία (kopsía, “earthen pot”) and κόψα (kópsa, “water bucket”), and points to the…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek: it is clearly related to κόγχη (kónkhē, “mussel”) and κόγχος (kónkhos), with the prenasalization of that layer, and the vowel varies in κόχλαξ (kókhlax) beside κάχληξ…

It is a sound word (onomatopoeia). Beekes and Frisk explain the original system as a thematic aorist κραγεῖν (krageîn) beside an intensive perfect κέκραγα (kékraga) with present meaning, which was…

Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek. Its ending is the suffix of ἀγκάλη (ankálē), μασχάλη (maskhálē) and σκυτάλη (skutálē), but the rest of the word is unexplained. A link with κραιπνός…

Beekes, Chantraine and Frisk treat it as a borrowed word of unknown origin. Wiktionary assumes a foreign or substrate source.

It is from Ancient Greek κυλίνδω (kulíndō, “to roll”), with the suffix -ρος (-ros). The verb's origin is disputed. Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of its suffix -ινδ- (-ind-), found also in…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, following Furnée, who compares κύπη (kúpē, “a kind of ship”) (Hesychius); the variation between π and β and the prenasalization (-μβ- beside -β-) are features of…

A compound from Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn) + οὐρά (ourá), “dog” and “tail”, with the first element in the genitive, κυνός (kunós): literally “dog's tail”. The scholia on the Iliad quoted by Pape…

It is from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía), “comedy”, with the adjective suffix -ικός (-ikós). Bailly and Πάπυρος name κωμῳδός (kōmōidós), “comic actor or poet”, as its base instead. Both contain…

It is a compound from Ancient Greek κῶμος (kômos, “revel, band of revellers”) + ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer”), “singer in a revel”. The Boeotian spelling preserves the uncontracted form of the second…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, following Schwyzer, who thought of a foreign origin, and Furnée, who adduced variant forms, above all ἀκόνιτον (akóniton) “aconite”, with a prothetic vowel and the…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because it has no good etymology and the suffix -ωψ (-ōps) is frequent in Pre-Greek words. The old analysis as κῶνος (kônos, “cone”) and ὤψ (ṓps, “face”), perhaps…

It is Pre-Greek, as the suffix -ινθος (-inthos) and the variations between ⟨λ⟩ and ⟨δ⟩ and between ⟨β⟩ and ⟨φ⟩ show. The PHILOGLOSSA database rates this as very reliable. The Mycenaean genitive…

It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Hellenic *lə́kwos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“lake, pond”). Beekes, following Schrijver, would have to start from a zero grade *l̥kʷo- and notes…

It is from Ancient Greek Λάκων (Lákōn), “a Laconian”, with the adjective suffix -ικός (-ikós). Beekes notes that Λάκων was perhaps a short, familiar form of the official name Λακεδαιμόνιος…

It is an onomatopoeic formation built on a sound like that of Latin lallō (“to sing a lullaby”), Lithuanian lalúoti and German lallen (“to babble”), with the ending of other verbs of sound such as…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of its prenasalized suffix -υγγ- (-ung-) and because of the by-form genitive λάρυγος (lárugos) recorded in the Etymologicum Magnum. It was formerly connected…

It is formed from Ancient Greek λειτουργός (leitourgós, “public servant”) + -ία (-íā), the abstract suffix. Λειτουργός is formed from an Ionic adjective meaning “public”, related to λαός (laós…

It is from Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick”), meaning literally “the licker”. The verb continues Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Cognates of the verb include Sanskrit…

It is a noun of action, from Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to speak”) + -σις (-sis).

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because its relatives show alternations typical of that language: ε beside ι in λεκροί (lekroí) and λικροί (likroí), Hesychius' words for the branches of a stag's…

It is a loanword, ultimately of Semitic origin. Beekes and Frisk compare the Assyrian name Akkadian ladunu and an Arabic name of the resin that passed into Persian. Rosół takes it as most probably…

It is from Ancient Greek λήθαργος (lḗthargos), “lethargy; forgetful”, with the abstract suffix -ία (-ía). Beekes takes the base word to be originally an adjective (with “disease” or “fever”…

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of its variation with λαίθαργος (laíthargos, “treacherous”): the alternation ⟨η⟩ / ⟨αι⟩ is typical of substrate words. The PHILOGLOSSA database rates this as…

It is from Ancient Greek λιτός (lītós, “plain, frugal, simple”), with the suffix of abstract nouns -της (-tēs). Wiktionary derives the adjective from λίς (lī́s, “smooth”).