ἄλσος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”), the same root of Latin alō, alumnus, oleō and English old. On the other hand, Beekes connects the word with the proper noun Ἄλτις (Áltis), the name of a sacred enclosure dedicated to Zeus in Olympia; on this basis one could reconstruct the noun as *alti̯os. Furnée accepts the equation, but interprets it in the context of other instances of an interchange of dental and sibilant in Pre-Greek words, like ἄννησον (ánnēson) and ἄνηθον (ánēthon).

Pronunciation

Noun

ἄλσος • (álsos) n (genitive ἄλσεος or ἄλσους); third declension

1. grove, especially a sacred one
2. (transferred sense) any hallowed precinct, even one without trees

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Greek: άλσος (álsos)

Further reading

• “ἄλσος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄλσος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἄλσος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἄλσος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄλσος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἄλσος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)
• “ἄλσος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • avenue idem, page 55.
  • close idem, page 138.
  • consecrated idem, page 162.
  • demesne idem, page 209.
  • domain idem, page 246.
  • enclosure idem, page 271.
  • grove idem, page 375.
  • lawn idem, page 480.
  • park idem, page 593.
  • precincts idem, page 634.