poikilos

Steven Lo Vullo doulos at merr.com
Mon Nov 19 23:21:36 EST 2001



On Monday, November 19, 2001, at 07:34  AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

> At 3:22 PM -0500 11/18/01, David Beaulieu wrote:
>>>
>>> --Dear b-greekers,
>>       I wonder if anyone could tell me anything about the etymology of
>> "poikilos."  I heard this week that our English "polka-dot" comes from 
>> this
>> word.  When I consult the American Heritage Dictionary, 1st ed., 
>> "polka-dot"
>> shows uncertain origin.  Strong's also claims the word, "poikilo" has 
>> no
>> certain derivation.
>>                                             Thanks,
>>                                             Karen W. Beaulieu
>
> I think this must have been meant for the list. Perhaps some others may
> have some input into this. I'd only say that there is surely no
> relationship between "polka-dot" and Greek POIKILOS or POIKILLW other 
> than
> that the semantic content of "polka-dot" might be translated by the 
> Greek
> adjective POIKILOS. I've never seen any etymology of *POIKIL-; I think I
> may once have read a conjecture that it's a pre-Greek (Minoan or 
> generally
> Mediterranean) word as are (w)OINOS and hRODON, but I don't know if that
> was anything more than pure guesswork.

Karen, I'm curious as to the reason for your inquiry. Was there an 
attempt, perhaps in a sermon, to make some point about the Greek word on 
the basis of the supposed English derivation? The reason I ask is that I 
have heard these kinds of points made in sermons before. I'm sure many 
out there are familiar with the following illustrationt: "DUNAMIS is the 
Greek word from which we get our word 'dynamite.' Therefore, DUNAMIS 
denotes 'explosive' power." Although this kind of thing can make for a 
very entertaining sermon, it is an exegetical blunder of the highest 
degree to define Hellenistic Greek words on the basis of derivatives 
that came on the scene a long time afterwards.
=============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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