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"δυσ-κόλος"
A compound of δυσ- (bad/poorly) and κόλος. The adjective κόλος, -ος, -ον is primarily used to describe something that is "truncated" or "cut short", "having a part lopped off", "reduced to a stump" with specific applications that extend this meaning to particular objects or features. Here's a detailed explanation of the two primary senses:
General Meaning: "Truncated" or "Cut Short"
- This is the primary and broadest sense of κόλος, used to indicate that something is shortened, incomplete, or lacking part of its original form.
- Example:
- Homer, Iliad 16.117:
Ἕκτωρ Αἴαντος δόρυ μείλινον ἄγχι παραστὰς πλῆξ᾽ ἄορι μεγάλῳ αἰχμῆς παρὰ καυλὸν ὄπισθεν, ἀντικρὺ δ᾽ ἀπάραξε: τὸ μὲν Τελαμώνιος Αἴας πῆλ᾽ αὔτως ἐν χειρὶ κόλον δόρυ, τῆλε δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ αἰχμὴ χαλκείη χαμάδις βόμβησε πεσοῦσα.
“Hector, standing near Ajax’s ashen spear, struck it with a great sword near the socket behind the spearhead, and completely sheared it off. Telamonian Ajax was left holding the truncated [κόλον] spear in his hand as it was, while the bronze spearhead fell far from him, clanging to the ground as it fell.”
In this passage from Homer’s Iliad (Book 16.114–125), the word κόλος is used to describe the truncated spear of Ajax (“κόλον δόρυ”). Hector strikes Ajax’s spear near its shaft with a great sword, severing the bronze tip and rendering the weapon ineffective. The term κόλον, meaning “truncated” or “mutilated,” vividly illustrates the destruction of the spear and signifies Ajax’s sudden disadvantage in battle.
This is not derived from κόλον meaning the large intestine or colon in anatomy or a clause (in rhetoric), a part of a sentence. Related is the word δυσκολός which used of persons literally means hard to satisfy with food (cf. Ath. 6.262a), and from this are various idiomatic uses such as "unpleasant," "hard to please" or "troublesome." Thus the rendering of "how difficult to enter" is quite inaccurate on the grounds that the proper Greek word for such an expression is χαλεπός, (difficult, hard, grievious, and hardly, with difficulty) which is not used.
(Cf. LSJ, Bailly, A. (2024), Pape, Cunliffe, Autenrieth, Middle Liddell) |