ἀμυγδάλη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

  • ἀμύγδᾰλον (amúgdalon)
  • ἀμύγδᾰλος (amúgdalos)
  • ἀμυσγέλᾱ (amusgélā), ἀμυσγῠ́λᾱ (amusgúlā)

Etymology

Unknown.

According to Beekes, variations in spelling indicate "a typical" Pre-Greek substrate word, tentatively reconstructed as *amutygala[1]. He also supported Furnée's comparison with μύκηρος (múkēros, “almond, kind of a nut”) and a couple of Anatolian words related to sweetness.

Alternatively, Blažek considers it possible to allow for Semitic provenance, namely to contain the term present in Hebrew שָׁקֵד‎ (šāqḗḏ, “almond”), see there for variants, while accounting for the Greek /al/ by deeming a blend with the term in Hebrew דֶּקֶל‎ (déqel) to participate, imagining derivations *midqalā “place planted with date-palms” and miṯqadā “place planted with almond-trees” and hybridized miṯqalā.

Pronunciation

 

Noun

ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λη • (amugdálē) f (genitive ᾰ̓μῠγδᾰ́λης); first declension

  1. almond
  2. peach stone

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Greek: αμύγδαλο (amýgdalo)
  • → Latin: amygdala

References

  1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2007) The Pre-Greek loans in Greek‎, page 16
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