
I have been looking at ἵλεως and ἔλεος and think I see an overlap in their semantic range, within the idea of having mercy upon someone (such as a publican in a temple confessing sins). This has led me to question that perhaps back in the days prior to Koine they may have sprouted from the same root. However, it seems that the etymologists do not think so. And I know that similar spelling does not mean similar etymologies, or hat, hit, hot, and hut would all derive from the same place. Yet I must confess that the similar spelling makes me wonder about the possibility. So my question here is twofold:
1- Is my thinking totally devoid of sense, in the etymologies possible being the same but perhaps coming through distinct pre-Koine dialects to end up covering slightly different semantic fields (or even the same dialect but with different emphasis on the how/why/what of "mercy"?
2 - Is there any literature out there concerning the possible relationship or similarities between the words?
Thanks!