[B-Greek] The etymology of SKOLIOS

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Oct 4 09:50:50 EDT 2006


In my reply to the original query regarding this word, I noted that  
my own
source reference (Hofmann's German etymological dictionary of Greek),
the IE root suggested is *skel- with a sense of "bend" or "contort."  
Certainly
in early Greek literature the standard antithesis of SKOLIOS is ARTIOS,
which means "well-made" or "properly fit-together."

On Oct 3, 2006, at 4:01 PM, gabe coia wrote:

> I was wondering if someone could comment this:
>
>   The suggested connection between skelos ("leg") and skolion  
> ("crooked",
> "bent") only serves to support the principle that adjectives speak  
> of that
> which pertains to the noun from which they are derived. Liddell and  
> Scott
> list a noun, skellos, in classical Greek, having the meaning
> "crook-legged." Lampe, in his Patristic Greek Lexicon, offers an  
> example
> only of a metaphorical use of "skelos" (a part of a proposition),  
> but also
> notes a verb, skelisma, meaning "trip up" and a noun, skelismos,  
> meaning
> "snare" or "trap." Here there is an association with the idea of a  
> leg,
> even a leg getting bent. Most interestingly, Lampe, lists a  
> compound noun,
> skelokopoumai, which meant "have one's legs broken." This is the very
> contextual association that the word "skelos" has in its only uses  
> in the
> N.T., in John 19:31-33. The noun skelos is connected with a verb  
> meaning
> "fracture." Usage of skelos suggests that the Greeks saw in this
> particular word for "leg" the sense of a jointed limb, or a bent limb.
> This would make the term a fitting one to use in speaking of the  
> custom of
> fracturing the leg of a criminal being crucified. This would  
> suggest that
> while skolion may not be directly derived from the noun skelos,  
> both terms
> can be traced back to a common root idea of something bent in  
> shape. There
> is no firm agreement that skolion is to be associated in its origin  
> with
> skelos, but if it is, a common element of meaning in both terms could
> easily be traced.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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