- πηλός
- πηλόςGrammatical information: m.Meaning: `loam, clay, mud, dung, bog' (IA.).Other forms: Dor. πᾱλός (Sophr., inscr.).Compounds: Compp., e.g. πηλο-φορέω `to bear clay' (Ar.), ἀκρό-πηλος `with mud above' (Plb.).Derivatives: πήλ-ινος `made of clay' (D., Arist.), -αῖος `id., living in mud' (Man., Paus.), -ώδης `loamy, muddy' (IA.), -ώεις `id.' (Opp.; after εὑρώεις a.o.; Chantraine Form. 274, Schwyzer 527); -όομαι, -όω, rarely with περι- a.o., `made of loam. etc., to be covered in, to ballast with clay' (late) with -ωσις f. `besmearing', -ωμα n. `mud' (Charis.). -- Expressive denominat. προ-πηλακίζω eig. "to tread in the mud before oneself" = `to treat contumeliously, to insult' (Att.) with -ισμός m. `dishonour, reproach' (IA.), -ισις f. `insulting' (Po.); on the diff. of meaning Röttger Substantivbildungen 19. Prob. direct from πηλός after other verbs in -ακ-ίζω (πῆλαξ only as explanation of πηλακίζω EM 669, 49; also pap. IIIa; πηλακισμός Suid.).Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]X [probably]Etymology: Without convincing etymology. Several hypotheses: to Lat. palūs f. `standing water' etc. (Curtius 275 a. A. after Bopp etc.; rejected by Bq); to OCS kalъ `mud, dung', Lat. squālus `dirty' (Meillet MSL 13, 291 f.; against this W.-Hofmann s.v.); to Lat. palleō `be pale', πελιός etc. (Schulze Kl. Schr. 112; here after sch. also palūs etc.). Byforms πάλκος πηλός H. (recalling Lith. pélkė f. `swamp, (peat)-marsh'), πάσκος πηλός H. (so πηλός from *πασ-λός?; Sommer Lautst. 74). On the phonetics still Forbes Glotta 36, 242; farreaching speculations on the morphology in Specht Ursprung 64, 117, 187, 234 (all quite uncertain). --Further details w. lit. in Bq, W.-Hofmann s. 2. palūs and 2. squālus, WP. 1, 441 u. 2, 53. - So unknown; Pre-Greek?Page in Frisk: 2,528-529
Greek-English etymological dictionary (Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά ετυμολογική λεξικό). Robert S.P.. 2010.