Etymological Dictionary of Greek

By

Robert Beekes

With the assistance of

Lucien van Beek

VOLUME ONE & TWO

BRILL

LEIDEN • BOSTON

2010

This publication has been made possible by the financial support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beekes, R. S. P. (Robert Stephen Paul)

Etymological dictionary of Greek / by Robert Beekes; with the assistance of Lucien van Beek.

p. cm. — (Leiden Indo-European etymological dictionary series; v. 10/1-2)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-90-04-17418-4 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Greek language—Etymology—Dictionaries. I. Beek, Lucien van. II. Title.

PA422.B44 2010

482.03—dc22

2009036652

ISSN: 1574-3586

ISBN Set: 978 90 04 17418 4

ISBN Volume One: 978 90 04 17420 7

ISBN Volume Two: 978 90 04 17419 1

Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.

Leiden Indo-European

Etymological Dictionary Series

Edited by

Alexander Lubotsky

VOLUME 10/1 & 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME ONE

Preface

Pre-Greek loanwords in Greek

Abbreviations and symbols

The Greek etymological dictionary Α–Λ

VOLUME TWO

The Greek etymological dictionary Μ–Ω

Bibliography

Indices

PREFACE

Whoever takes up the task of writing a new etymological dictionary of Greek, has to depart from the existing dictionaries. The present dictionary, too, owes a great deal to previous work in the field, especially to the excellent dictionaries of Hjalmar Frisk and Pierre Chantraine.

Apart from compiling the first comprehensive etymological dictionary of Greek in the English language and incorporating the most recent scholarly literature on Greek etymology, there were a number of other reasons why a new dictionary seemed to be a desideratum. In the preface to his dictionary, Frisk expressed doubts on three points: 1. the laryngeal theory; 2. Mycenaean; and 3. the Pelasgian theory on the Greek substrate language. Ironically, it is precisely on these three points that substantial progress has been made in the last decades, so that we can now be much more confident in these areas.

1. Frisk felt uneasy about the laryngeals. In the preface (p. vi) he wrote: “Für die griechische Etymologie fällt sowieso die Laryngaltheorie (…) nicht schwer ins Gewicht”. I have been acquainted with the problems of the laryngeal theory since the start of my academic ...