κρύσταλλος: Difference between revisions

{{etym

|etymtx=Grammatical information: m.<br />Meaning: [[ice]] (Il.), also f. (after <b class="b3">λίθος</b>) <b class="b2">rock-crystall</b> (Str., D. S.).<br />Other forms: <b class="b3">κρόσταλλος εἶδος ὑέλου</b> H., where Latte notes "h.e. <b class="b3">κρύσταλλος</b> (<b class="b3">κρούστ-</b> S.)<br />Derivatives: <b class="b3">κρυστάλλιον</b> <b class="b2">id.</b> (PHolm.), also plant-name = <b class="b3">ψύλλιον</b> (Dsc.; because of the cooling effect, Strömberg Pflanzennamen 83); <b class="b3">κρυστάλλ-ινος</b> <b class="b2">icy-cold</b> (Hp.), <b class="b2">of rock-crystall</b> (D. C.), <b class="b3">-ώδης</b> [[icy]], [[crystalclear]] (Ptol., PHolm.); <b class="b3">κρυσταλλ-όομαι</b> [[freeze]] (Ph.), <b class="b3">-ίζω</b> <b class="b2">glow like crystal</b> (Apoc.); further <b class="b3">κρυσταίνομαι</b> [[freeze]] (Nic. Al. 314), prob. free analogical formation to <b class="b3">κρύσταλλος</b> after other cases of the interchange <b class="b3">ν</b> : <b class="b3">λ</b> (diff. Schwyzer 706; ?).<br />Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]<br />Etymology: The word is sonnected (Chantraine Formation 247, Schwyzer 484) with Lat. [[crusta]] [[bark]], [[crust]]. However, this is wrong as the Latin word has a quite different meaning: <b class="b2">the hard surface of a body, the rind, shell, crust, bark</b> which protects it' (Lewis and Short); so it has nothing to do with cold; it is used of [[flumen]], indicating a covering or crust of ice, but this is an incidental use, a metaphor, not the central aspect of the meaning. The word, then, has nothing to do with words for [[cold]], [[ice]]. (Its etymology with <b class="b3">κρύος</b> must therefore be given up; there is no other proposal.) - As Kuiper FS Kretschmer 1, 215 n. 16 remarked the word is Pre-Greek because of the suffix <b class="b3">-αλλο-</b> (all Greek words in <b class="b3">-αλλο-</b> are of Pre-Greek origin; there are no Greek words of IE origin with this suffix; it is not <b class="b3">-αλ-</b> with expressively geminated <b class="b3">λ</b> (as Chantraine often says) and not from <b class="b3">κρύ-ος</b> as then the formation cannot be explained. This is confirmed by the variant <b class="b3">κρόστ-</b>. The word means [[ice]] and was also used for rock-crystal, probably because this looks like (a piece of) ice, as it is transparant (in antiquity this was very remarkable). Pliny (37, 23) still thinks it [[is]] ice. We now know that rock-crystal is a mineral; it is quartz, a silicate (SiO₂). The semi-precious amethyst and agate are varieties. S. Beekes, FS Kortlandt.<br />See also: s. <b class="b3">κρύος</b>

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