ἀμυγδάλη Ancient Greek · revision 2337

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=5th century BC, Phrynichus|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /a.myɡ.dá.lɛː/^(Wiktionary)

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λη''' (amugdálē) ''f'' (genitive ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λης); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Also neuter ἀμύγδαλον and feminine ἀμύγδαλος (Lucian); Doric ἀμυσγέλα (Cyrene, 3rd century BC), also ἀμυσγύλα.^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[ἀμυγδαλέα|tr=amugdaléa]], contracted ἀμυγδαλῆ, the almond tree.^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a typical substrate word, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], according to Beekes and the DGE.^(Beekes 2010)^(DGE)^(Beekes 2014) The interchange of -γδ- with -σγ- (ἀμυσγέλα) is a Pre-Greek feature, and the Homeric epithet of Lemnos ἀμιχθαλόεσσα, which Leumann and Beekes take as “rich in almonds”, is another variant.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Frisk calls it a foreign word of unknown origin.^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ Furnée compared [[μύκηρος|tr=múkēros|t=almond]] and [[hit|mitgaimi-|t=sweet bread]], Luwian mitgaimi- “sweetened”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Older Semitic etymologies, such as Hebrew “great mother” or “precious gift of God”, are rejected by Rosół.^(Rosół 2013) Blažek has proposed a link with [[he|שָׁקֵד|tr=šāqēḏ|t=almond]].^(Rosół 2013)^(Wiktionary)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The comic poet Phrynichus and an Athenian inscription of about 414 BC mention almonds.^(LSJ 1940)^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Comedy, the Hippocratic writers, Theophrastus and Dioscorides use it for the nut.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940) Eupolis has “give him Naxian almonds to chew”.^(DGE)^(LSJ 1940)^(Ammonius)^(CGL 2021) The grammarians distinguished the fruit, ἀμυγδάλη, from the tree, ἀμυγδαλῆ.^(Ammonius) Later it also meant the kernel of a peach stone (''Geoponica'').^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|amygdala]], with popular forms amiddula, amyndala and amandula, from which come [[goh|mandala]], German Mandel, French amande and English [[m|en|almond]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(PHILOGLOSSA)^(Πάπυρος) Modern Greek uses αμύγδαλο for the nut; [[el|αμυγδαλή|tr=amygdalí]] means the tonsils, a sense taken from French amygdale.^(Πάπυρος)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – Phrynichus and Eupolis mention almonds.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * c. 414 BC – an Athenian inscription lists almonds.^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus describes the almond tree and its fruit.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 3rd century BC – the Doric form ἀμυσγέλα at Cyrene.^(DGE)

+ * Modern Greek – αμύγδαλο “almond”; αμυγδαλές “tonsils”.^(Πάπυρος)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|almond]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ # The almond tree.^(DGE)

+ # The kernel of a [[m|en|peach]] stone.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀμυγδάλινος|tr=amugdálinos]]

+ * [[ἀμυγδαλέα|tr=amugdaléa]]

+ * [[ἀμυγδάλιον|tr=amugdálion]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|amygdala]]

+ * [[en|almond]]

+ * [[en|amygdala]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ammonius distinguishes ἀμυγδαλῆ, with a circumflex, for the tree, from ἀμυγδάλη for the fruit.^(Ammonius)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}