On the etymology of Greek ἄγλις and γέλγις ‘garlic’: an Akkadian loanword in Pre-Greek

TY - JOUR

T1 - On the etymology of Greek ἄγλις and γέλγις ‘garlic’: an Akkadian loanword in Pre-Greek

AU - Kroonen, Guus

PY - 2012/9

Y1 - 2012/9

N2 - In the present article, I offer a new etymology for Greek α′́γλιζ and γ∈́ λγιζ 'garlic'. I argue that both of these lexical variants were ultimately adopted from Akkadian giddil/gidlu 'string (of onions or garlic)', a word with a well-established Semitic etymology. The word was not borrowed from Akkadian directly, however, but only indirectly through the language spoken in Greece and Asia Minor before the arrival of the Indo-European Greeks. The affiliation of this lost language is still hotly debated, but the case of α′́γλιζ / γ∈́ λγιζ offers a unique insight into its morphological structure and neatly demonstrates its role as an intermediate language between Assyrian in the East and Greek in the West.

AB - In the present article, I offer a new etymology for Greek α′́γλιζ and γ∈́ λγιζ 'garlic'. I argue that both of these lexical variants were ultimately adopted from Akkadian giddil/gidlu 'string (of onions or garlic)', a word with a well-established Semitic etymology. The word was not borrowed from Akkadian directly, however, but only indirectly through the language spoken in Greece and Asia Minor before the arrival of the Indo-European Greeks. The affiliation of this lost language is still hotly debated, but the case of α′́γλιζ / γ∈́ λγιζ offers a unique insight into its morphological structure and neatly demonstrates its role as an intermediate language between Assyrian in the East and Greek in the West.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0092-2323

VL - 40

SP - 289

EP - 299

JO - Journal of Indo-European Studies

JF - Journal of Indo-European Studies

IS - 3/4

ER -