χαμαιλέων Ancient Greek · revision 3222

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=4th century BC, Aristotle|origins=grc χαμαί, grc λέων}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kʰa.mai̯.lé.ɔːn/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /xa.mɛˈle.on/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /xa.meˈle.on/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''χᾰμαιλέων''' (khamailéōn) ''m'' (genitive χᾰμαιλέοντος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|grc|χαμαί|λέων|tr1=khamaí|tr2=léōn|t1=on the ground|t2=lion]]: “ground lion”.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Wiktionary takes it to be ultimately a calque of [[akk|nēšu ša qaqqari|t=chameleon, reptile]], literally “lion of the ground”.^(Wiktionary) Χαμαί keeps the zero grade of the old word for earth, [[ine-pro|*dʰéǵʰōm]], seen in [[χθών|tr=khthṓn]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ A Semitic origin from the word for camel, [[hbo|גָּמָל|tr=gāmāl]], once proposed, is rejected by Rosół.^(Rosół 2013)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Aristotle describes the animal in the ''History of Animals'', and in the ''Nicomachean Ethics'' makes it an image of a man whose fortunes keep changing.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Plutarch compares Alcibiades to a chameleon for his changefulness.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Theophrastus and Dioscorides give the name to several plants whose leaves change colour, such as the pine-thistle.^(LSJ 1940) In the Septuagint it is among the unclean creeping animals of Leviticus.^(Lust 2003) Hesychius defines it as an egg-laying animal that walks.^(Hesychius)

+

+ Latin borrowed it as [[m|la|chamaeleōn]], and English took ''camelion'' from French in the mid-14th century; the figurative sense of a changeable person is attested in English by the 1580s.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Modern Greek has [[m|el|χαμαιλέοντας|tr=chamailéontas]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the chameleon and uses it as an image of changefulness.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for a plant.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint lists it among unclean animals.^(Lust 2003)

+ * 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch compares Alcibiades to a chameleon.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * Mid-14th century – English borrows it as ''camelion''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+ # ''(figurative)'' A changeable person.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(botany)'' Several plants whose leaves change colour, such as the pine-[[m|en|thistle]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[χαμαί|tr=khamaí]]

+ * [[λέων|tr=léōn]]

+ * [[χθών|tr=khthṓn]]

+ * [[la|chamaeleon]]

+ * [[en|chameleon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}