ἀμαλδύνω

Ancient Greek

Etymology

One assumes that the word is a denominative from an otherwise unknown pre-form *ἀμαλδύς (*amaldús). The first question is whether the word has the same root as βλαδύς (bladús, flaccid, weak). The ἀ- must then have been added after the privative formations, but this is not very probable; influence of ἀμαλός (amalós, soft, weak) is not very likely either. Connection with μέλδομαι (méldomai, to smelt) is not compelling because of the meaning. However, it has a variant ἀμέλδειν (améldein), which shows the same problem of found comparing this verb with βλαδύς (bladús). Other words, like μαλθακός (malthakós, soft, tender), μαλακός (malakós, soft, tender), ἀμαλός (amalós, soft, weak) and ἀμβλύς (amblús, blunt, dulled) differ too much to be useful. The etymology, thus, remains uncertain.

Pronunciation

 

Verb

ἀμᾰλδῠ́νω • (amaldúnō)

  1. to crush, destroy, weaken
  2. to soften, mitigate, alleviate
  3. to neglect, waste, squander
  4. (figuratively) to conceal, disguise

Inflection

Further reading

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