- πολιός
- πολιόςGrammatical information: adj.Meaning: `whitishly grey', esp. of hair, also of foaming seas (ep. Il., also hell.).Other forms: adj.Dialectal forms: Myc. poriwa n. pl. (= sg.?) \/poliwa\/.Compounds: Compp. e.g. πολιο-κρόταφος `with grey temples' (Θ 518 a. o.), ὑπο-, ἐπι-πόλιος `grizzled, mixed with grey' (Anacr. resp. D.), prob. backformations (cf. ἐπιπολιόομαι below), s. Strömberg Prefix Studies 101 ff.; on μεσαι-πόλιος s. μέσος.Derivatives: 1. Fem. πολιάς (Luc. Lex.); 2. the pl.name πόλιον n. `Teucrium polium or creticum' (Thphr., Nic., Dsc.), after the colour of the flower (Dsc. 3, 1 10); 3. the abstracts πολιότης f. `greyness' (Arist.), πολιά (from πολι-ιά) f. `id.', also as disease (Arist.); 4. the denomin. a. πολι-αίνομαι `to become whitish', of the sea (A. Pers. 109; lyr.); b. -όομαι, -όω, also w. ἐπι-, προ-, `to become, make grey' (Arist.) with -ωσις f. `the becoming grey' (Arist.), -ωμα n. `greyness' (Eust.); c. -άζω `to become grey' (sch.).Origin: IE [Indo-European]X [probably] [804] *poliwo- `gray'Etymology: With πολιός is perh. the semantically exactly agreeing Arm. ali-k`, gen. ale-ac' pl. `the (white) crests of waves, white hair, white beard' also formally identical (IE *polii̯o-, -ā), in any case closely related. As basis one may assume *πολι-Ϝός (Schwyzer 472 w. lit.); Further s. πελιδνός, πελιός. Extensively on πολιός a. cogn. Reiter Die griech. Bez. der Farben weiß, grau und braun 54ff. -- But *pl̥ii̯o- means rather *pl̥Hii̯o- which would not give πολιός (it requires rather *pol(H)ii̯o-). -- DELG writes that the word is `evidently' cognate with πελιός, which seems contradicted by the meaning (`dunkelfarben').Page in Frisk: 2,575-576
Greek-English etymological dictionary (Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά ετυμολογική λεξικό). Robert S.P.. 2010.