μῶλυς

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• μῶλῠξ (môlux), μωλῠρός (mōlurós)

Etymology

For μωλύω (mōlúō, “to parboil, scald, simmer”), compare κωλύω (kōlúō). Because of the unclear meaning and formation, this adjective is etymologically hard to assess. Connection with μέλεος (méleos, “idle, useless, vain”) does not explain the long vowel -ω-. Comparison with μῶλος (môlos, “toil and moil”) is mentioned by Pokorny. As Frisk remarks, everything remains hypothetical. According to Beekes, the suffix -υκ- looks Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mɔ̂ː.lys/ → /ˈmo.lys/ → /ˈmo.lis/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mɔ̂ː.lys/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.lys/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.lys/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.lys/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmo.lis/

Adjective

μῶλῠς • (môlus) m or f (neuter μῶλῠ); third declension

1. soft, weak, feeble

   Synonym: ἀφαυρός (aphaurós)

2. weak in intellect, dull

Derived terms

• μώλῡσῐς (mṓlūsis)
• μωλῡτής (mōlūtḗs)
• μωλῡτός (mōlūtós)
• μωλῠ́ω (mōlúō)

 

Further reading

• “μῶλυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• μῶλυς in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN