λαίεται καταλεύεται

Grammatical information: m. (late also f.),

Meaning: `stone'; as GN (Laconia) Λᾱ̃ς and Λᾶ (Th., Paus., St.Byz. a.o.; acc. Λᾰ́ᾱν Β 585).

Other forms: gen. etc. λᾱ̃-ος, -ι, - αν (-α Call.), pl. λᾶ-ες etc. (Il.); also as ο-stem λᾶος, - ου etc. (Hes.Fr. 115[?], S., Cyrene, Gortyn; details in Schwyzer 578),

Dialectal forms: Myc. raeja \/lāh-ejā\/ and Cypr. laos show that the word did not have a -w-.

Compounds: Compp., e. g. λᾱ-τόμος (beside uncontracted or restored λαο-) `stone-cutter' with λᾱτομ-ίαι `quarry' (= Lat. lātomiae beside lautumiae \< *λαο-; s.W.-Hofmann s. v.), Arg., Syracus., hell. (Ruijgh L'élém. ach. 125f.); λα(ο)-ξό(ο)ς with λαξεύω etc. (Georgacas Glotta 36, 165 f.), λατύπος; as 2. member in κραταί-λεως (\< -*ληϜος or -*λᾱϜος; cf. below) `with hard rock' (A., E.), prob. also in ὑπο-λαΐς, - ίδος (H. also - ληΐς) f. name of an unknown bird (Arist.); cf. Thompson Birds s.v.; s. also 2. λαιός.

Derivatives: λάϊγγες f. pl. `small stones' (Od., A. R.; on the formation Chantraine Formation 399; wrong Specht Ursprung 127; s. also below); λάϊνος, - ΐνεος `(of) stone' (Il.); uncertain λαιαί f. pl. (Arist.), λεῖαι (Gal.), sg. λεία (Hero) `the stones used as weights hanging from the upright loom'; unclear λαίεται καταλεύεται H. and λαυστήρ μοχθηρός... η οἴκου λαύρα, λαύστρανον τινες λύκον, τινες φρέατος ἅρπαγα H.; hypotheses by Jokl Rev. int. ét. balk. 1,46ff.

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

Etymology: On λαύρα and λεύω s. vv. The unique stemformation of λᾶας is unexplained. One supposes an old neuter with sec. transition to the masc. (fem.) after λίθος, πέτρος (Brugmann IF 11, 100 ff.). The further evaluation is quite uncertain. After Brugmann orig. nom.-acc. *λῆϜας (\< IE. *lēu̯ǝs-; on the full grade cf. λεύω and λεῖαι), gen., dat. etc. *λᾰ́Ϝᾰσ-ος, -ι (IE. *lǝu̯ǝs-os, -i) \> λᾶ-ος, -ι, to which analogically the nom. λᾶ-ας was formed. The simpler assumption, that only the vowellength in λᾶας (for older *λᾰ́Ϝας) was taken from (gen.) λᾶ-ος etc., is rejected by B. Metrical objections against a contraction of *λᾰ́Ϝᾰσ-ος, -ι to λᾶ-ος, -ι by Ruijgh l.c.; he prefers, with Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 211 to see in λᾶ-ος, -ι etc. an (unenlarged) consonant-stem λᾱϜ-. Who accepts these, not decisive, objections but also does not want to assume heteroclis, might assume a full grade monosyllabic oblique stem *λᾱϜσ- (beside *λᾰϜᾰσ-). The abandoning of the old σ-flection was anyhow connected with the gender-change. - Quite diff. Pedersen Cinq. decl. lat. 44ff. (with de Saussure Rec. 587 f.): λᾶας old masc. ablauting ā-stem: *λᾱϜᾱ-: λᾱϜ(ᾰ)- \< IE. * leh₂ueh₂-: *leh₂u̯(h₂)-; the supposed full grade -ā- (*- eh₂-) is however quite hypothetical, but it would nicely explain the absence of the root-vowel in the inflection; followed by Beekes, Origins (1985)15-17. - The word λᾶας was apparently unknown to Ion.-Attic (Wackernagel Hell. 9 f., Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1,22; doubts in Björck Alpha impurum 69 and 76 n. 1); Ion.-Att. form shows κραταί-λεως (or only poetical analogy after λαός: Μενέ-λεως a.o.?); thus the free-standing λεύω (s. v.). Connections to λᾶας outside Greek are rare and not without doubt. First Alb. lerë, -a `stone, heap of stones, stony plain, rockslope' from IE. *lā̆u<sub>e</sub>rā (Jokl Rev. int. et. balk. 1, 46ff.; to λαύρα?, s.v.); Illyr. PN Lavo f. prop. "which belongs to the rock (stone)" (from * lava `stone'; Krahe ZNF 19, 72; Spr. d. Illyr. 1,69 f.). One considers further the orig. Celtic Lat. lausiae f. `small stones from stone-cuttings', s. W.-Hofmann s. v. The suffixal agreement between λάϊγγες and OIr. līe, gen. līac (\< Celt. *līu̯ank-; cf. Pok. 683 against Loth Rev. celt. 44, 293; also Lewy Festschr. Dornseiff 226 f.) is no doubt accidental. Further uncertain combinations in Bq, WP. 2, 405 ff., W.-Hofmann s. lausiae. - For Aegaean origin also Chantraine Formation 421, Güntert Labyrinth 5,9. - Since the Myc. form shows that there was no -w- in the form, we must assume *lāh- (but not from *lās-, as the -s- would have been retained. Hence the relation to λεύω, λαύρα has become quite unclear. See Heubeck, IF 66 (1961) 29-34. Fur. 329 compares λέπας; he considers (n. 53) λαίνθη λάρναξ λιθίνη Cyr. as proof of Pre-Greek origin.

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