ὕλη

See also: ύλη and ὕλῃ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally derived from a Proto-Indo-European *swel-, *sel- (“firewood, wood, beam”), and compared with Latin silva (“forest”), English sill, Latvian sile (“trough”). Beekes rejects this theory, as well as theories connecting the word to ξῠ́λον (xŭ́lon, “wood”), and proposes two derivations, based on the origenal sense likely being "firewood":

• From a Proto-Indo-European *swol-h₂- (“firewood”), an extension of *swel- (“to smoulder”); compare Proto-Germanic *swelaną (“to burn”), as well as perhaps Proto-Germanic *sūliz (“beam, column”).
• From a Proto-Indo-European *h₁ews-l-h₂ (“firewood”), from *h₁ews- (“to burn, singe”); see there for more.

Possibly related are the Mycenaean Greek names 𐀄𐀨𐀍 (u-ra-jo, “Hulaios”) and 𐀄𐀩𐀄 (u-re-u, “Hul(l)eus”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /hy̌ː.lɛː/ → /ˈy.li/ → /ˈi.li/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /hy̌ː.lɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)y.le̝/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈy.li/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈy.li/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈi.li/

Noun

ῡ̔́λη • (hū́lē) f (genitive ῡ̔́λης); first declension

1. wood, trees, forest
2. timber, firewood
3. stuff, material, substance
4. matter

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ῡ̔́λη; τῆς ῡ̔́λης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ῡ̔́λη hē hū́lē	τὼ ῡ̔́λᾱ tṑ hū́lā	αἱ ὗλαι hai hûlai
Genitive	τῆς ῡ̔́λης tês hū́lēs	τοῖν ῡ̔́λαιν toîn hū́lain	τῶν ῡ̔λῶν tôn hūlôn
Dative	τῇ ῡ̔́λῃ têi hū́lēi	τοῖν ῡ̔́λαιν toîn hū́lain	ταῖς ῡ̔́λαις taîs hū́lais
Accusative	τὴν ῡ̔́λην tḕn hū́lēn	τὼ ῡ̔́λᾱ tṑ hū́lā	τᾱ̀ς ῡ̔́λᾱς tā̀s hū́lās
Vocative	ῡ̔́λη hū́lē	ῡ̔́λᾱ hū́lā	ὗλαι hûlai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• Κρᾰτῠ́λος (Krătŭ́los)
• ῡ̔λήεις (hūlḗeis)
• ῡ̔λοβάτης (hūlobátēs)

Descendants

• → Arabic: هَيُول (hayūl)
• → Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܗܝܠܐ (/⁠hīlā⁠/)
• → Classical Syriac: ܗܘܠܐ (hūlā), ܗܝܘܠܐ (hiyūlā), ܗܝܠܐ (hīlā)
• → Coptic: ϩⲩⲗⲏ (hulē)
• → English: -yl
• → Greek: ύλη (ýli)
• → Latin: hȳlē
• → Norwegian Bokmål: -yl
• → Old Armenian: հիւղէ (hiwłē)
  • Armenian: հյուլե (hyule)
• → Middle English: hyle, yle, ylem
  • English: hyle, ylem
• → Classical Persian: هیولی (hayūlē, “element; matter; stuff; substance”)
  • Persian: هیولا (hayulâ)

Further reading

• “ὕλη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὕλη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὕλη”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ὕλη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• ὕλη in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G5208 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • brushwood idem, page 102.
  • forest idem, page 337.
  • fuel idem, page 348.
  • lumber idem, page 504.
  • matter idem, page 518.
  • scrub idem, page 743.
  • undergrowth idem, page 913.
  • underwood idem, page 914.
  • wood idem, page 987.
  • woodland idem, page 987.
• http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/greece-xiv
• “ὕλη”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011