κρυσταλλ-όομαι

Grammatical information: m.

Meaning: `ice' (Il.), also f. (after λίθος) `rock-crystall' (Str., D. S.).

Other forms: κρόσταλλος εἶδος ὑέλου H., where Latte notes "h.e. κρύσταλλος ( κρούστ- S.)

Derivatives: κρυστάλλιον `id.' ( PHolm.), also plant-name = ψύλλιον (Dsc.; because of the cooling effect, Strömberg Pflanzennamen 83); κρυστάλλ-ινος `icy-cold' (Hp.), `of rock-crystall' (D. C.), - ώδης `icy, crystalclear' (Ptol., PHolm.); κρυσταλλ-όομαι `freeze' (Ph.), - ίζω `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; ?).

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

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 - αλλο- (all Greek words in - αλλο- are of Pre-Greek origin; there are no Greek words of IE origin with this suffix; it is not - αλ- with expressively geminated λ (as Chantraine often says) and not from κρύ-ος as then the formation cannot be explained. This is confirmed by the variant κρόστ-. 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.

See also: s. κρύος