Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
αστυ
The noun αστυ (astu) means town as proverbially opposed to αγρος (agros), field: the former indicative of one's polite civilness and the latter of one being a heathen (from heath) or pagan (from pagus, rural era). Our noun αστυ (astu) derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "hwes-", meaning to dwell or to pass the night in.
An αστυ (astu), town or village, may not have been as much a cradle of sophistication as a πολις (polis), city or citadel, but was still considered a significant step up from residing in the field or roaming about like an animal. Perhaps contrary to modern intuitions, in classical times people understood that in a wide open field, one is not in the least free, and rather perpetually enslaved by whatever ferocious animal fancies a meal, or one's fear thereof. True freedom only comes from a sturdy lion-proof wall around a settlement of well-behaving neighbors, who keep their noses out of one's affairs and refrain from casting aspersions upon one's choice of pleasures. Human societies require all participants to submit to common rules of language, so that there can be discourse, and common civil laws, so that the city can run predictably. The Greeks had a word for this: ελευθερια (eleutheria), or freedom-by-law, and aspired to it as their democratic ideal.
Our noun αστυ (astu), town, has etymologically nothing to do with the familiar word αστηρ (aster), star, but the poets danced with the obvious similarity anyway. Their word κοσμος (kosmos) referred to the human world-order — and although physical humans are earth-bound, neither their words nor their laws are, and hence neither is their civilization. The signature silver bow of Apollo, the national deity of Greece, obviously referred to the Galaxy, or Milky Way, from γαλα (gala), milk, and κυκλος (kuklos), circle.
Our noun αστυ (astu), town or village, does not occur in the New Testament, but from it derives:
- The adjective αστειος (asteios), meaning civil or "townesque": of the town in a figurative sense (a literal town-person was called a αστικος, astikos). In the classics this word was used in the sense of not-rural but town-bred: polite and charming. This adjective was frequently ascribed to one's words or sayings, which were then deemed to be sophisticated, elegant, witty or even popular. On occasion, this adjective was applied to someone's exterior, which was then deemed to be graceful or handsome — according to the tastes of the day of course. Our word occurs in the New Testament in Acts 7:20 and Hebrews 11:23 only, both times in reference to the infant Moses, which in turn refers to the fledgling tradition of literacy as it emerged in Egypt in the late Bronze Age (see our article on the name Moses for a closer look at this).
αυλη
The noun αυλη (aule) describes any enclosed space, usually without a roof, like a sheep pen or a court around the main house. It is thought to stem from the same Proto-Indo-European root as the word αστυ (astu), town (see above), namely the root "hwes-", meaning to dwell or to pass the night in. From this same root also come the noun αυλις (aulis), meaning tent or night-dwelling (see below), the verbs ιαυω (iauo), to sleep or pass the night, and αω (ao), to sleep (but not the English word hall, curiously enough). The Hebrew equivalent of the noun αυλη (aule) would be שך (sok), booth, hence the name Succoth and the Feast of Booths.
Save for our noun αυλη (aule), none of these related words made it into the New Testament (the word for sleep that is used is υπνος, hupnos), and by the time of the New Testament, our noun no longer described a quiet place to sleep but rather a place to gather, to conduct business or to spend one's noisy evenings with festive friends. To the general Koine user, this would have made our noun much more akin the noun αυλος (aulos), pipe or flute (see below), than words having to do with sleep.
Something rather similar has happened with the verb κλειω (kleio), to shut or close, and its look-alike verb κλεω (kleo), to celebrate. Likewise, the verb κοιμαω (koimao) means to repose, go to bed or fall asleep, whereas the noun κωμος (komos) describes a feast or loud, drunken merriment. Likewise the verb χαιρω (chairo), means to be glad or rejoice, whereas the noun χωρος (choros), describes a bordered off plot of agricultural land. Note that the familiar Latin word circus stems from the Greek κιρκος (kirkos), ring, which in turn relates to κυκλος (kuklos), circle.
Our noun αυλη (aule) is used 12 times, see full concordance, and from it comes:
- The verb αυλιζομαι (aulizomai), meaning to lodge, to huddle up in an enclosure in order to spend the night, which would generally also result in the making of entertaining merriment (Matthew 21:17 and Luke 21:37 only). The literary tradition we so cherish today, originated of course in the oral tradition that arose like an emergent property of folks spending the night together. From this verb in turn comes:
- Together with the noun αγρος (agros), meaning field: the verb αγραυλεω (agrauleo), meaning to lodge or spend the night in a field (Luke 2:8 only).
- The noun αυλις (aulis), which describes a general night-lodge: a tent for humans but also a roost for birds. This word is not used in the New Testament but from it comes:
- Together with the preposition επι (epi), meaning on or upon: the noun επαυλις (epaulis), meaning tent-camp or any kind of place that comprises many lodges: an agricultural complex or farm house, a military encampment of barracks. Our word occurs in Acts 1:20 only, as a translation of Psalm 69:25, where the Septuagint translates טירה (tira), encampment. The same word is used in Song of Solomon 8:9, in the term "encampment of silver" (αργυρος, arguros, silver or money). In the Septuagint, our noun επαυλις (epaulis) also translates חצר (haser), or unwalled village (Leviticus 25:31).
- Together with the preposition προ (pro), meaning before: the noun προαυλιον (proaulion), which describes a hallway or vestibule before the actual lodge (Mark 14:68 only). This is obviously a late word, which was invented when the shaggy shelters of old had evolved into the entertainment halls and hotels of the urban era. The other evangelists use the word πυλων (pulon), which emphasizes doors and is obviously an entirely different word.
αυλος
The noun αυλος (aulos) means pipe or flute (1 Corinthians 14:7 only). It stems from a widely attested Proto-Indo-European root "hewlos-", hole or tube (that is: anything from a hollow reed to a blowhole in roof), with very few traces in English.
As we observe in our discussion above, our noun αυλος (aulos), flute, looks conveniently akin the noun αυλη (aule), lodging place, where much of the fluting took place, which would explain the flute as attribute of the god Pan, the god of shepherds and herds (and thus of pens and thus of lodgings). It may even be that the name Pan (παν, pan, from παων, from PIE root "peh", to guard), relates to verb σπαω (spao), to draw or pull close — and note the Slavic verb spavati means to sleep; see our article on σειρα, seira, for more examples of a leading sigmas gone missing — and the verb σπαω (spao), in turn, appears to be the root of the verb ασπαζομαι (aspazomia), to greet or salute warmly, which fits right into our word group.
From the same PIE root "hewlos-" comes the Latin noun alvus, a hole, hollow or hold (of a ship), from which in turn derives the fairly common Dutch noun aula, which describes a communal room or a room where mixed communities pursue common activities. From the Slavic branch comes the word ulica, meaning street.
From our noun αυλος (aulos), flute, come:
- The verb αυλεω (auleo), meaning to flute, to play the flute, or perhaps more precise: to use something like a flute to entertain and bring people together in a common celebration. This verb is a social verb, not a musical one. It's used in Matthew 11:17, Luke 7:32 and 1 Corinthians 14:7 only, and from it in turn comes:
- The noun αυλητης (auletes), meaning a flute player, that is someone who uses something like a flute to bring people together into a common celebration (Matthew 9:23 and Revelation 18:22 only).