κλάω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
κόλπος
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
kolpos
English translation (word)
bosom, lap, fold, gulf
Transliteration (Etymon)
klaō
English translation (etymon)
to break
Century
11 AD
Source
idem
Ref.
Etym. Gudianum, kappa, p. 334
Ed.
F.W. Sturz, Etymologicum Graecae linguae Gudianum et alia grammaticorum scripta e codicibus manuscriptis nunc primum edita, Leipzig: Weigel, 1818 (repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1973): 229-584
Quotation
Κόλπος, παρὰ τὸ κοῖλον, ὃ σημαίνει τὸ βαθὺ, κοῖλπος, καὶ ἀφαιρέσει τοῦ ι κόλπος· ἔστι δὲ κλῶ κλάσω, ἐξ αὐτοῦ γίνεται κλὸς, καὶ κατ’ ἀναδιπλασιασμὸν κόκλος, καὶ καθ’ ὑπέρθεσιν τοῦ λ, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ κ εἰς π, κόλπος
Translation (En)
Kolpos "fold", from koilos, which means "deep", *koilpos, and by aphaeresis of /I/, kolpos. And the is a verb klō "to break", <future> klasō, from it comes *klos, and by reduplication *koklos, and by metathesis od the /l/ and change of the /k/ into /p/, kolpos.
Parallels
There is no parallel
Modern etymology
Cognate with ONorse half, OEng. hwealf "vault", from *kwelp- "curve" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has κόλπος "gulf, bay", or "(anatomical) cavity" , as a learned word
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology, starting from a monosyllabic verb, after Philoxenus' method. This etymology is very costly from the formal point of view. Once the proto-form *klos has been derived, it requires three successive pathē to reach the form of the lemma: reduplication, metathesis and change of a consonant. From the semantic point of view, it relies on the fact that a fold "breaks" the continuity of the straight line.