ἄλευρον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂leh₁wr̥. Cognate with Old Armenian ալեւր (alewr).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /á.leu̯.ron/ → /ˈa.le.βron/ → /ˈa.le.vron/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /á.leu̯.ron/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈa.lew.ron/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈa.le.βron/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈa.le.vron/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈa.le.vron/

Noun

ἄλευρον • (áleuron) n (genitive ἀλεύρου); second declension (chiefly in the plural)

1. wheat flour, wheatmeal
   • 430 BCE, Herodotus, “Book VII, Polyymnia”, in Histories, section 119:

     Οἱ ἀστοὶ ἄλευρά τε καὶ ἄλφιτα ἐποίευν πάντες ἐπὶ μῆνας συχνούς.

     Hoi astoì áleurá te kaì álphita epoíeun pántes epì mênas sukhnoús.

     The citizens continued to make wheatmeal and barleymeal for many months.

   Synonym: ἀλείατα (aleíata), ἀλέατα (aléata) (Homeric)

2. meal

Usage notes

Particularly differentiated from ἄλφιτα (álphita, “barley flour, barleymeal”) (see Herodotus quote).

Declension

Case / #	Singular	Plural
Nominative	τὸ ᾰ̓́λευρον tò ắleuron	τᾰ̀ ᾰ̓́λευρᾰ tằ ắleură
Genitive	τοῦ ᾰ̓λεύρου toû ăleúrou	τῶν ᾰ̓λεύρων tôn ăleúrōn
Dative	τῷ ᾰ̓λεύρῳ tôi ăleúrōi	τοῖς ᾰ̓λεύροις toîs ăleúrois
Accusative	τὸ ᾰ̓́λευρον tò ắleuron	τᾰ̀ ᾰ̓́λευρᾰ tằ ắleură
Vocative	ᾰ̓́λευρον ắleuron	ᾰ̓́λευρᾰ ắleură
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of τὸ ᾰ̓́λευρον; τοῦ ᾰ̓λεύρου (Attic)

Derived terms

• ἀλεύρινος (aleúrinos)
• ἀλευρώδης (aleurṓdēs)

Descendants

• → English: aleurone
• → French: aleurone
• Greek: άλευρο (álevro), αλεύρι (alévri)
• → Italian: aleurone
• → Translingual: Aleuron

Further reading

• “ἄλευρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄλευρον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἄλευρον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄλευρον in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• G224 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible