μασχάλη
Ancient Greek
Etymology
The formation may be compared with that of ἀγκάλη (ankálē, “bent arm”), but further deatils are unclear. According to Beekes, it is undoubtedly a Pre-Greek word.
Meanwhile Douglas Q. Adams has presented a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱsleh₂, via *h₂eḱs- (“axis, axle”), ultimately from the root *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”), and source to Latin āla (“wing, armpit”), axilla (“little wing, armpit”) as well as Proto-Germanic *ahslō (“shoulder”). He finds that a Proto-Hellenic *aksalā could have given *askhalā by simple metathesis, while the initial m- could be either the product of a misdivision of the definite article plus noun (e. g. in the accusative singular *tām aksalā as well as in the respective genitive and dative dual, and genitive plural forms) or a contamination with the semantically similar μάλη (málē, “armpit”) and μαζός (mazós, “breast”).
Immanuel Löw explains it as a Semitic borrowing, related to Jewish Babylonian Aramaic מַתְחֲלָא (maṯḥălā, “calyx surrounding the date in its early state, or spathe of a date-palm”), possibly related to Arabic حُثَالَة (ḥuṯāla, “husks of grain or of dates, refuse of any crop”), both of uncertain internal relations.
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /mas.kʰá.lɛː/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /masˈkʰa.le̝/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /masˈxa.li/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /masˈxa.li/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /masˈxa.li/
Noun
μᾰσχᾰ́λη • (maskhálē) f (genitive μᾰσχᾰ́λης); first declension
- (anatomy) armpit, axilla
- Synonym: μάλη (málē)
- (botany) axil, hollow at the base of a shoot
- branch, young palm twig
- (geography) bay, gulf
- part of the prow of a ship, to which the foresail is fastened
Inflection
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ἡ μᾰσχᾰ́λη hē maskhálē | τὼ μᾰσχᾰ́λᾱ tṑ maskhálā | αἱ μᾰσχᾰ́λαι hai maskhálai | ||||||||||
| Genitive | τῆς μᾰσχᾰ́λης tês maskhálēs | τοῖν μᾰσχᾰ́λαιν toîn maskhálain | τῶν μᾰσχᾰλῶν tôn maskhalôn | ||||||||||
| Dative | τῇ μᾰσχᾰ́λῃ têi maskhálēi | τοῖν μᾰσχᾰ́λαιν toîn maskhálain | ταῖς μᾰσχᾰ́λαις taîs maskhálais | ||||||||||
| Accusative | τὴν μᾰσχᾰ́λην tḕn maskhálēn | τὼ μᾰσχᾰ́λᾱ tṑ maskhálā | τᾱ̀ς μᾰσχᾰ́λᾱς tā̀s maskhálās | ||||||||||
| Vocative | μᾰσχᾰ́λη maskhálē | μᾰσχᾰ́λᾱ maskhálā | μᾰσχᾰ́λαι maskhálai | ||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
Derived terms
- ἀμφιμάσχαλος (amphimáskhalos)
- μασχαλιαία (maskhaliaía)
- μασχαλίζω (maskhalízō)
- μασχάλιον (maskhálion)
- μασχαλίς (maskhalís)
- μασχαλίσματα (maskhalísmata)
- μασχαλισμός (maskhalismós)
- μασχαλιστήρ (maskhalistḗr)
- τρᾰγομᾰ́σχᾰλος (tragomáskhalos)
Descendants
- Greek: μασχάλη (mascháli)
Further reading
- “μασχάλη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- μασχάλη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- “μασχάλη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Adams, Douglas Q (1984), “The Etymology of Greek μασχάλη ‘Armpit’ with Notes on μάλη”, in Glotta, volume 62, pages 65 seqq.
- 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
- Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 334
- “mtḥl”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
Greek
Alternative forms
- μασκάλη (maskáli), αμασκάλη (amaskáli), αμασχάλη (amascháli)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maˈsxali/
- Hyphenation: μα‧σχά‧λη
Noun
μασχάλη • (mascháli) f (plural μασχάλες)
- armpit, axilla
Declension
| case \\ number | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | μασχάλη • | μασχάλες • |
| genitive | μασχάλης • | μασχαλών • |
| accusative | μασχάλη • | μασχάλες • |
| vocative | μασχάλη • | μασχάλες • |
Further reading
μασχάλη on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia el