κρύσταλλος: Difference between revisions

|etymtx=Grammatical information: m.<br />Meaning: [[ice]] (Il.), also f. (after [[λίθος]]) [[rock-crystall]] (Str., D. S.).<br />Other forms: <b class="b3">κρόσταλλος εἶδος ὑέλου</b> H., where Latte notes "h.e. [[κρύσταλλος]] (<b class="b3">κρούστ-</b> S.)<br />Derivatives: [[κρυστάλλιον]] <b class="b2">id.</b> (PHolm.), also plant-name = [[ψύλλιον]] (Dsc.; because of the cooling effect, Strömberg Pflanzennamen 83); <b class="b3">κρυστάλλ-ινος</b> [[icy-cold]] (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> [[glow like crystal]] (Apoc.); further [[κρυσταίνομαι]] [[freeze]] (Nic. Al. 314), prob. free analogical formation to [[κρύσταλλος]] after other cases of the interchange [[ν]] : [[λ]] (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: [[the hard surface of a body]], [[the rind]], [[shell]], [[crust]], [[bark]] 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 [[κρύος]] 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 [[λ]] (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. [[κρύος]]