ξύλον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Perhaps from ξύω (xúō) or cognate with Lithuanian šùlas (“post, pole, stave”), Russian шу́ло (šúlo, “garden-pole”) (from Proto-Slavic *šulo), Serbo-Croatian šȗlj (“block”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kes- or from *ḱes-. Compare also Old High German sūl (“style, pole”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍃 (sauls, “pillar”).

Compare ξόανον (xóanon, “wooden image”).

Pronunciation

Noun

ξῠ́λον • (xúlon) n (genitive ξῠ́λου); second declension

1. (mostly in plural) cut wood, timber

   Synonyms: κᾶλον (kâlon), κάστον (káston)

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 8.507:

     ἐπὶ δὲ ξύλα πολλὰ λέγεσθε, ὥς κεν παννύχιοι μέσφ’ ἠοῦς ἠριγενείης καίωμεν πυρὰ πολλά

     epì dè xúla pollà légesthe, hṓs ken pannúkhioi mésph’ ēoûs ērigeneíēs kaíōmen purà pollá

     And furthermore gather abundant wood, that all night long until early dawn we may burn fires full many.

2. piece of wood, log, beam, post
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.327:

     ἕστηκε ξύλον αὖον ὅσον τ’ ὄργυι’ ὑπὲρ αἴης

     héstēke xúlon aûon hóson t’ órgui’ hupèr aíēs

     There standeth, a fathom's height above the ground, a dry stump.

3. cudgel, club, stick
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.63.1:

     οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ αὐτῶν ξύλων κορύνας ἔχοντες ἑστᾶσι τοῦ ἱροῦ ἐν τῇ ἐσόδῳ

     hoi dè polloì autôn xúlōn korúnas ékhontes hestâsi toû hiroû en têi esódōi

     while most of them go and stand in the entrance to the temple with clubs in their hands.

4. an instrument of punishment: wooden collar, stocks, gallows, stake
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.75.2:

     ποιέοντα δὲ αὐτὸν ταῦτα καὶ παραφρονήσαντα ἔδησαν οἱ προσήκοντες ἐν ξύλῳ

     poiéonta dè autòn taûta kaì paraphronḗsanta édēsan hoi prosḗkontes en xúlōi

     For doing this, and because he was out of his mind, his relative bound him in the stocks.

5. bench, table
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Demosthenes, Against Stephanus 1 33:

     ἔστιν οὖν ὅστις ἂν τοῦ ξύλου καὶ τοῦ χωρίου καὶ τῶν γραμματείων τοσαύτην ὑπέμεινε φέρειν μίσθωσιν

     éstin oûn hóstis àn toû xúlou kaì toû khōríou kaì tôn grammateíōn tosaútēn hupémeine phérein místhōsin

     Now, is there any man who would have submitted to the payment of so large a rental for the table, the site, and the books?

6. tree
   • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 6.4.5:

     τὸ δὲ παρὰ θάλατταν πλέον ἢ ἐπὶ εἴκοσι σταδίους δασὺ πολλοῖς καὶ παντοδαποῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ξύλοις

     tò dè parà thálattan pléon ḕ epì eíkosi stadíous dasù polloîs kaì pantodapoîs kaì megálois xúlois

     The land bordering the coast is thickly covered for more than twenty stadia with an abundance of heavy trees of all sorts.

7. blockhead
   • Anthology of Planudes 4.187
   • 50 CE – 150 CE, Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon 5.22
8. a measure of length: 3 or 2+²⁄₃ cubits
   • 10 CE – 70 CE, Hero, Geometrica 23.4.11

Declension

Other attested forms: plural ξῠ́λεᾰ (xúlea) (inscription in Kos)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Dutch: xylo-
• English: xylo-
• Greek: ξύλο (xýlo)
• Mariupol Greek: кси́ла (ksíla), кси́лу (ksílu)
• Irish: xili-
• Italian: xilo-
• Spanish: xilo-

References

• “ξύλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ξύλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ξύλον”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ξύλον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ξύλον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ξύλον”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3586 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ξύλον in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • billet idem, page 79.
  • bludgeon idem, page 85.
  • board idem, page 86.
  • club idem, page 140.
  • collar idem, page 143.
  • lath idem, page 478.
  • log idem, page 497.
  • pillory idem, page 613.
  • plank idem, page 617.
  • stocks idem, page 819.
  • timber idem, page 875.
  • wood idem, page 987.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1037
• ξύλον - ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ (since 2011) Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch) University of Chicago.