ἀμαλδύνω

One assumes that the word is a denominative from an otherwise unknown pre-form *ἀμαλδύς (*amaldús). The first question is whether the word has the same root as βλαδύς (bladús, “flaccid, weak”). The ἀ- must then have been added after the privative formations, but this is not very probable; influence of ἀμαλός (amalós, “soft, weak”) is not very likely either. Connection with μέλδομαι (méldomai, “to smelt”) is not compelling because of the meaning. However, it has a variant ἀμέλδειν (améldein), which shows the same problem of found comparing this verb with βλαδύς (bladús). Other words, like μαλθακός (malthakós, “soft, tender”), μαλακός (malakós, “soft, tender”), ἀμαλός (amalós, “soft, weak”) and ἀμβλύς (amblús, “blunt, dulled”) differ too much to be useful. The etymology, thus, remains uncertain.

ἀμᾰλδῠ́νω • (amăldŭ́nō)

1. to crush, destroy, weaken
2. to soften, mitigate, alleviate
3. to neglect, waste, squander
4. (figuratively) to conceal, disguise

• “ἀμαλδύνω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἀμαλδύνω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἀμαλδύνω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἀμαλδύνω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἀμαλδύνω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἀμαλδύνω in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἀμαλδύνω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 80