ἄλσος, εος, τό,
grove, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 20.8, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 10.350: _plural_, 3rd c.BC(?): Phanocles Elegiacus 1.3, 3rd c.BC: Theocritus Poeta Bucolicus 1.117, etc. ] Refs 8th c.BC+]
__II especially sacred grove, [[ 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 6.291, 8th-7th c.BC: Hesiodus Epicus “Scutum Herculis” 99, 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 5.119, 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Leges” 761c, etc.] Refs 8th c.BC+]:—hence, any hallowed precinct, even without trees, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.506, Scholia 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “O.” 3.31, compare 5th c.BC: Bacchylides Lyricus 3.19, 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Antigone” 844] Refs 8th c.BC+]; Μαραθώνιον ἄ., of the field of battle, viewed as a holy place, [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Fragmenta Elegiaca - PLG” 4: _metaphorically_, πόντιον ἄ.] Refs 4th c.BC+] the ocean-plain, [[ 5th c.BC: Bacchylides Lyricus 16.85, 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Persae” 111. (Perh. for ἄλτ-ιος (compare Ἄλτις)] Refs 5th c.BC+], i.e. alq-ios, cf. Gothic alhs 'temple'.)