ἐλαία Ancient Greek · revision 15563

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Mycenaean (Linear B)|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /e.lǎi̯.aː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /eˈlɛ.a/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /eˈle.a/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ἐλαίᾱ''' (elaíā) ''f'' (genitive ἐλαίᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|grk-pro|*elaíwā]], a word that is no doubt Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], as its suffix -αι(ϝ)- suggests.^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014)^(DGE) Scarborough's database rates this very reliable.^(PHILOGLOSSA) Mycenaean has [[gmy|e-ra-wa]] /elaiwa/ and [[m|gmy|e-ra-wo]] /elaiwon/.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ The Latin borrowing [[m|la|olīva]] proves an older form [[m|grc|*ἐλαίϝα|tr=*elaíwā]], and Cypriot [[m|grc|ἔλαιϝον|tr=élaiwon]] corresponds to Latin [[m|la|oleum]]; all other European words for the olive come from Latin.^(Beekes 2010) [[xcl|եւղ|tr=ewł|t=oil]] may come from the same source.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Mycenaean tablets have [[gmy|e-ra-wa]].^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE) Homer uses it for the olive tree, especially in the ''Odyssey'', which has a sacred olive (13.372); the ''Iliad'' has a man tending an olive sapling (17.53).^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Herodotus distinguishes the cultivated olive from the wild one, [[κότινος|tr=kótinos]].^(LSJ 1940) At Athens the olives stood at the end of the racecourse, and “to run beyond the olives” (Aristophanes) meant to go too far.^(LSJ 1940) From Aristophanes and Plato on it was also the fruit, the olive.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940) Theophrastus applies it to an Indian tree and to a kind of laurel.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ Its neuter [[ἔλαιον|tr=élaion]] is olive oil.^(Beekes 2010) Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|olea]] and [[m|la|olīva]].^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Beekes 2010) Modern Greek has the learned ''ελαία'' and the everyday ''ελιά''.^(Wiktionary)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Mycenaean – Linear B has e-ra-wa.^(Beekes 2010)

+ * Homer – The ''Odyssey'' and the ''Iliad'' use it for the olive tree.^(LSJ 1940)^(GLAUx)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus contrasts the cultivated and the wild olive.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for the fruit.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * Modern Greek – ''ελιά'' means olive.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|olive]] tree.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The olive, the fruit.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A tree like the olive; a kind of laurel.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἐλάϊνος|tr=elā́ïnos]]

+ * [[θυμελαία|tr=thumelaíā]]

+ * [[χαμελαία|tr=khamelaíā]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ἔλαιον|tr=élaion]]

+ * [[la|olīva]]

+ * [[en|olive]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}