ἐλαχύς

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Ancient Greek

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Hellenic *eləkʰús, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁léngʰus (lightweight).[1]

Cognates include Sanskrit लघु (laghu), Latin levis, Old Church Slavonic льгъкъ (lĭgŭkŭ), Old English lēoht (English light).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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ἐλᾰχῠ́ς (elakhúsm (feminine ἐλᾰ́χειᾰ, neuter ἐλᾰχῠ́); first/third declension

  1. small, short, mean, little
    • 7th–6th centuries BC, Homeric Hymn to Apollo 197:
      τῇσι μὲν οὔτ’ αἰσχρὴ μεταμέλπεται οὔτ᾽ ἐλάχεια, ἀλλὰ μάλα μεγάλη τε ἰδεῖν καὶ εἶδος ἀγητή
      And among them sings one, not mean nor puny, but tall to look upon and enviable in mien.

Inflection

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This is one of the two adjectives in -ύς, -εῖα, -ύ, along with λιγύς (ligús), that have a recessive accent in the feminine. See also θῆλυς (thêlus), ἥμισυς (hḗmisus).

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἐλαχύς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 403

Further reading

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