LOGOI

The corpus record

ὀμφαλός

omphalos

navel, navel string

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Where it lives

Densest 12 of 21 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. ὀμφαλός · omphalos — Beekes

ὀμφαλός [m.] ‘navel, navel string’ (Il.), very often metaph. of navel-shaped elevations: ‘knob of the shield or yoke’ (IL), ‘centre’ (a 50). 41Ὲ *h,enb"-, *hymb"-, *h,neb'- ‘navel’> «COMP Compounds like ὀμφαλη-τόμος [f.] ‘cutter of the navel string, midwife (Hippon., Hp. on -ἡ- see Schwyzer: 438f.), μεστόμφαλος “in the middle of the navel”, ‘in the centre’, especially of Delphi and its oracle (trag.), also ‘having a … — [Beekes, s.v. ὀμφαλός, p. 1131]

2. ὀμφαλός · omphalos — Chantraine

ὀμφαλός : m. enombril» (Hom., etc.), «cordon ombilical » (médec.) ; nombreux emplois figurés : « bosse » notamment au milieu du bouclier, mais il peut aussi y en avoir plusieurs, cf. Trümpy, Fachausdrücke 24 sq. Hom.), bosse au milieu du joug (JE 24, 273), bouchon d'un bain (Ath. 501f}, «centre » (Od. 1,50), particulièrement dit de l’omphalos de Delphes (ion.-att.), centre d’une armée (écrivains militaires), nom de … — [Chantraine, s.v. ὀμφαλός, p. 817]

3. ᾿Ομφαλός · ᾿Omphalos — Chantraine

᾿Ομφαλός «nombril, milieu, centre » subsiste en grec moderne. — [Chantraine, s.v. ᾿Ομφαλός, p. 818]

4. ὀμφαλός · omphalos — Frisk

ὀμφαλός m. ‘Nabel, Nabelschnur’ (seit Il.), sehr oft übertr. von nabelförmigen Erhöhungen, “Schildbuckel, Jochknopf’ (Π.), ‘Mittelpunkt’ (seit α 50). Kompp., z.B. ὀμφαλη-τόμος f. “Abschneiderin der Nabelschnur, Hebamme’ (Hippon., Hp.; -n- Thythmisch-analogisch, Schwyzer 438f.), μεσ-όμφαλος „in der Mitte des Nabels“, ‘im Mittelpunkt’, bes. von Delphi und seinem Orakel (Trag.), auch ‘mit einem Nabel (einer Erhöhung) … — [Frisk, s.v. ὀμφαλός, p. 1363]

5. ὀμφᾰλός · omphalos — LSJ

navel

navel, Il. 4.525, 13.568, Hdt. 7.60, etc.

2 umbilical cord

umbilical cord, Hp. Superf. 8, Oct. 10, Sor. 1.57, Gal. 15.387.

II anything, like a navel

anything like a navel,

1 knob, boss

knob or boss, Il. 11.34 ; esp. in middle of shield, 13.192, etc.

2 button, knob

button or knob in the middle of a yoke, 24.273.

3 plug, valve closing outlet of bath

plug or valve closing outlet of bath, Timarch. ap. Ath. 11.501f ; cf. βαλανειόμφαλος.

4 knobs at ends of stick round which books were rolled

pl., knobs at ends of stick round which books were rolled, Luc. Merc.Cond. 41, Ind. 7, 16, AP 9.540.

III centre, middle point, middle point of Earth

centre or middle point : νήσῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ, ὅθι τʼ ὀ. ἐστι θαλάσσης Od. 1.50 (only here in Od.) ; later Delphi (or rather a round stone in the Delphic temple) was called ὀ. as marking the middle point of Earth, Pi. P. 4.74, B. 4.4, A. Eu. 40, 166 (lyr.), cf. Pl. R. 427c, Str. 9.3.6, Paus. 10.16.3 ; also of an altar at Megara, Simon. 107.9 (= IG 7.53) ; ἄστεος ὀ., at Athens, Pi. Fr. 75.3 ; νήσου ὀ., of Enna in Sicily, v.l. in Call. Cer. 15, cf. Cic. Verr. 4.48.106.

2 central part of a rose, knob, button-shaped stalk

central part of a rose, containing the seed-vessel, Arist. Pr. 907a20 ; of a pomegranate, Hp. Nat.Mul. 44, Gal. 12.649 ; knob on an oak-gall, Thphr. HP 3.7.5 ; button-shaped stalk of the fig, Gp. 10.56.2.

3 centre

centre of an army, Poll. 1.126 ; prop. the point at which an army is divided into two wings, Ascl. Tact. 2.6, cf. Arr. Tact. 8.4, Ael. Tact. 7.3.

4 keystone of an arched vault

keystone of an arched vault, Arist. Mu. 399b30.

5 vault, tomb

vault, tomb, MAMA 3.402,712 (Corycus).

IV navel-wort, Cotyledon Umbilicus

γῆς ὀ., = κοτυληδών, navel-wort, Cotyledon Umbilicus, Ps.-Dsc. 4.91. (Cf. Lat. umbilicus, umbo, prob. from ombh- : Skt. nābhis, OE. nafel ‘navel’, apptly. from ombh-.)

In the wild

6 of 33 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

  • Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) Treated in Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) s.v. ὀμφαλός (scan p. 1131; entry #4562). Root candidates: *imbilon-, *amban-.
  • Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. ὀμφαλός (scan pp. 817-818; entry #5930).
  • Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. ὀμφαλός (scan pp. 1363-1364; entry #4267). Root candidates: *imbilon-, *embh-, *amban-.

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