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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