LOGOI

The corpus record

ξύλον

xulon1 · τό

wood, firewood, timber, timber

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

What it meant — LSJ

wood, firewood, timber, timber, logs

wood cut and ready for use, firewood, timber, etc., Hom., mostly in pl., Il. 8.507, 547, Od. 14.418 ; ξ. νήϊα ship-timber, Hes. Op. 808 ; ξ. ναυπηγήσιμα Th. 7.25, X. An. 6.4.4, Pl. Lg. 706b, D. 17.28 ; ξ. τετράγωνα logs cut square, Hdt. 1.186, cf. Pl. Prt. 325d, Arist. EN 1109b7.

2 the wood-market

in pl., also, the wood-market, ἐπὶ ξύλα ἰέναι Ar. Fr. 403.

II piece of wood, log, beam, post, spoon made of, wood, peg, lever, perch

in sg., piece of wood, log, beam, post, once in Hom., ξ. αὖον . . ἢ δρυὸς ἢ πεύκης Il. 23.327 ; ξ. σύκινον spoon made of fig wood, Pl. Hp.Ma. 291c ; peg or lever, Arist. MA 701b9 ; perch, ἐπὶ ξύλου καθεύδειν Ar. Nu. 1431 : by poet. periphr., Ἀργοῦς ξύλον A. Fr. 20 ; ἵπποιο κακὸν ξ., of the Trojan horse, AP 9.152 (Agath.) : hence anything made of wood, as,

2 cudgel, club, club

cudgel, club, Hdt. 2.63, 4.180, Ar. Lys. 357, PHal. 1.187 (iii B.C.); μετὰ ξύλων εἰσπηδῆσαι PTeb. 304.10 (ii A.D.); ξύλοις συντρίψειν Luc. Demon. 50 ; of the club of Heracles, Plu. Lyc. 30.

3 an instrument of punishment

an instrument of punishment,

a wooden collar

wooden collar, put on the neck of the prisoner, ξύλῳ φιμοῦν τὸν αὐχένα Ar. Nu. 592 ; ἐς τετρημένον ξ. ἐγκαθαρμόσαι . . τὸν αὐχένα Id. Lys. 680 ; or,

b stocks

stocks, in which the feet were confined, Hdt. 9.37, 6.75, Ar. Eq. 367, D. 18.129 ; ξ. ἐφέλκειν Polyzel. 3 ; ἐν τῷ ξ. δεδέσθαι Lys. 10.16 (v. ποδοκάκκη), cf. Act.Ap. 16.24, OGI 483.181 (Pergam., ii A.D.) : also in pl., ἔδησεν ἐν τοῖς ξ. And. 1.45.

c

πεντεσύριγγον ξύλον (v. sub voc.) was a combination of both, with holes for the neck, arms, and legs, Ar. Eq. 1049.

d gallows, cross

gallows, κρεμάσαι τινὰ ἐπὶ ξύλου LXX De. 21.22 ; ξ. δίδυμον ib. Jo. 8.29 : prov., ἐξ ἀξίου τοῦ ξύλου κἂν ἀπάγξασθαι, i.e. if one must be hanged, at least let it be on a noble tree, App.Prov. 2.67, cf. Ar. Ra. 736 ; in NT, of the cross, Act. Ap. 5.30, 10.39.

e stake

stake on which criminals were impaled, Alex. 222.10.

4 bench, table, money-changerʼs table

bench, table, esp. money-changerʼs table, D. 45.33.

5 bench, seats

πρῶτον ξύλον front bench in the Athenian theatre, Ar. Ach. 25, V. 90, cf. Sch.adlocc. : hence οὑπὶ τῶν ξύλων the official who had to take care of the seats, Hermipp. 9 (according to Meineke).

6 bench

the Hippocratic bench, Hp. Fract. 13, Art. 72.

III tree

of live wood, tree, [ὄρος] δασὺ πολλοῖς καὶ παντοδαποῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ξύλοις X. An. 6.4.5, cf. Call. Cer. 41, Agatharch. 55, LXX Ca. 2.3, al. : opp. σάρξ, Thphr. HP 1.2.6, al. ; τῷ ξ. τοῦ δένδρου ἀνάλογον τὴν λεγομένην εἶναι γῆν Plot. 6.7.11 ; τὸ ξ. τῆς ἀμπέλου E. Cyc. 572; εἴρια ἀπὸ ξύλου, of cotton, Hdt. 3.47 ; εἵματα ἀπὸ ξύλων πεποιημένα Id. 7.65, cf. Poll. 7.75.

IV blockhead

of persons, blockhead, APl. 16.187 ; of a stubborn person, σίδηρός τις ἢ ξ. πρὸς τὰς δεήσεις Ach.Tat. 5.22.

V a measure of length

a measure of length, = 3 (also 2 2/3) cubits, the side of the ναύβιον, Hero *Geom. 23.4,11, POxy. 669.11, 28 (iii A.D.), 1053 (vi/vii A.D.).

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission. The etymological dictionaries (Beekes, Chantraine, Frisk) are matched incrementally.

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