ἔλαιον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *élaiwon. Compare ἐλαία (elaía, “olive”).[1]

Pronunciation

 

Noun

ἔλαιον • (élaion) n (genitive ἐλαίου); second declension

  1. olive oil, commonly used as an anointing oil
    • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.577:
      τὼ δὲ λοεσσαμένω καὶ ἀλειψαμένω λίπ’ ἐλαίῳ / δείπνῳ ἐφιζανέτην, […]
      tṑ dè loessaménō kaì aleipsaménō líp’ elaíōi / deípnōi ephizanétēn, […]
      • 1924 translation by A. T. Murray
        But when the twain had bathed and anointed them richly with oil, they sate them down at supper, […]
  2. any oily substance
    • 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, Collected Works 668.30
  3. (at Athens) the oil market
    • 342 BCE – 290 BCE, Menander, Unknown Work 339

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Greek: λάδι n (ládi)
  • Mariupol Greek: ладъ (lað)
  • → Proto-Albanian: *elaiwā
  • →? Latin: oleum (see there for further descendants)
  • →? Proto-Slavic: *olějь (see there for further descendants)

References

  1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἐλαία”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 400

Further reading

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