ἵλεως vs. ἔλεος

[mikeatnip]

This is in the beginner's forum, but maybe it needs to be in the dumber and dumbest forum.
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!

[Jonathan Robie]

This is in the beginner's forum, but maybe it needs to be in the dumber and dumbest forum.
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!

Hi Mike,

I haven't much advice to offer here, I am not an etymologist. But in general, there are a lot of things in any language that sound similar, have semantic overlap, and are held by etymologists to be etymologically unrelated. So this is really a question about etymological method, which isn't usually what we think about in the beginner's forum!

Your question is not dumb, but if I attempt to go much beyond this, I will probably expose my own stupidity ...

[mikeatnip]

Thanks, Jonathan. I was about to delete the post since no one had responded.
Perhaps it is just a personal thing of mine to think that words do not form out of nowhere, for no reason. There is, at least most of the time, logic in logos. But I know the danger of trying to make too much out of etymology. I have been studying the Levitical sacrificial laws so the relationship or lack thereof between ἵλεως and ἔλεος has a practical outworking for me at the present.

[Stephen Carlson]

According to Beekes’ etymological dictionary of Greek:

ἔλεος is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h1leu- (“compassion”).

ἵλεως is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *si-slh2-wo- (“reconciliation”).

Two completely different words. In general for Greek etymology, one cannot ignore the differences in the vowels and initial breathings.

[mikeatnip]

Thanks, Stephen. That is the kind of information I am looking for. Now if I can just squeeze out the $ for a copy of Beekes I would not have to post on here for my questions ...

[Jonathan Robie]

Thanks, Stephen. That is the kind of information I am looking for. Now if I can just squeeze out the $ for a copy of Beekes I would not have to post on here for my questions ...

Ah, but good questions are good for a forum.