Editing Helios (section)

== Name ==
[[File:Veronalapidary5.jpg|thumb|290px|right|Helios (far right) in a Phaethon sarcophagus, detail, marble, third century AD, [[Verona]], [[Italy]].]]

The Greek noun {{math|ἥλιος}} ({{small|[[Genitive|GEN]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἡλίου}} }}, {{small|[[Dative|DAT]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἡλίῳ}} }}, {{small|[[Accusative|ACC]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἥλιον}} }}, {{small|[[Vocative|VOC]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἥλιε}} }}) (from earlier {{math|ἁϝέλιος}} /hāwelios/) is the inherited word for the [[Sun]] from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*{{PIE|seh₂u-el}}''<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R.S.P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 516.</ref> which is cognate with [[Latin]] ''sol'', [[Sanskrit]] ''[[surya]]'', [[Old English]] ''swegl'', [[Old Norse]] [[Sól (Norse mythology)|sól]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''haul'', [[Avestan]] ''[[Hvare-khshaeta|hvar]]'', etc.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=sol&searchmode=none ''helios'']. ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]''.</ref><ref>Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA394 s.v. Helios pp 394–395]</ref> The [[Doric Greek|Doric]] and [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]] form of the name is {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἅλιος}} }}, ''Hálios''. In [[Homeric Greek]] his name is spelled {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἠέλιος}} }}, ''Ēélios'', with the Doric spelling of that being {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀέλιος}} }}, ''Aélios''. In Cretan it was  {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀβέλιος}} }} (''Abélios'') or {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀϝέλιος}} }} (''Awélios'').<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=h(/lios ἥλιος] in Liddell & Scott (1940), ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'', Oxford: Clarendon Press</ref> The Greek view of gender was also present in their language. [[Ancient Greek]] had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), so when an object or a concept was personified as a deity, it inherited the gender of the relevant noun; ''helios'' is a masculine noun, so the god embodying it is also by necessity male.<ref name="Hansen 2004">{{Cite book |last=Hansen |first=William F. |url=http://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans |title=Handbook of classical mythology |date=2004 |publisher=Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-57607-226-4}}</ref> The female offspring of Helios were called [[Heliades]], the male [[Heliadae]].

The author of the ''[[Suda]]'' lexicon tried to etymologically connect ''{{math|ἥλιος}}'' to the word {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀολλίζεσθαι}} }}, ''aollízesthai'', "coming together" during the daytime, or perhaps from {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀλεαίνειν}} }}, ''aleaínein'', "warming".<ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/240#eta.239 |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=topostext.org}}</ref> [[Plato]] in his dialogue ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' suggested several etymologies for the word, proposing among others a connection, via the Doric form of the word ''halios'', to the words {{lang|grc|{{math|ἁλίζειν}} }}, ''halízein'', meaning collecting men when he rises, or from the phrase {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀεὶ εἱλεῖν}} }}, ''aeí heileín'', "ever turning" because he always turns the earth in his course.

[[Doric Greek#Long a|Doric Greek]] retained Proto-Greek long *ā as [[Alpha|α]], while Attic changed it in most cases, including in this word, to [[Eta|η]].
''Cratylus'' and the etymologies Plato gives are contradicted by modern scholarship.<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=o1xn5Bb-CacC&pg=PA39 39]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1xn5Bb-CacC|title=Limiting the Arbitrary|isbn=1556197497|last1=Joseph|first1=John Earl|year=2000| publisher=John Benjamins }}</ref> From ''helios'' comes the modern English prefix ''[[wikt:helio-|helio-]]'', meaning "pertaining to the Sun", used in compounds word such as ''[[heliocentrism]]'', ''aphelion'', ''[[heliotropium]]'', ''heliophobia'' (fear of the sun) and ''heliolatry'' ("sun-worship").<ref>{{OEtymD|helio-|accessdate=2022-06-22}}</ref>