Σαρδώ

Forms

Σαρδώ (Sardṓ) f (genitive Σαρδόος or Σαρδοῦς or Σαρδόνος); third declension^[1] Genitive -όος, contracted -οῦς; oblique cases also Σαρδόνος, Σαρδόνι, Σαρδόνα (Polybius, Plutarch); nominative Σαρδώνη in Hesychius.^[2][3]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it from the island's name in a pre-Roman substrate language, an indigenous name that probably had religious connotations.^[1] The oblique cases are sometimes formed as if from Σαρδών (Sardṓn).^[2][3]

Ancient writers made the island's settlers Libyans under an eponymous hero, Sardus, a son of Heracles.^[4] They also gave it other names: Sandaliotis, from σάνδαλον (sándalon, “sandal, sole”), and Ἰχνοῦσσα (Ikhnoûssa), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “footprint”), after its shape.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Herodotus (1.170), who calls Sardinia the largest of all islands.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The name stayed the usual Greek name of Sardinia through antiquity.^[5][3] The Periplus of Scylax also ranks it as the largest island of the Mediterranean, above Sicily.^[6] Its adjectives are Σαρδόνιος (Sardónios) (Herodotus, Theocritus), Σαρδονικός (Sardonikós) and Σαρδῷος (Sardōîos), and the people are the Σαρδοί (Sardoí).^[2] The Suda calls it a very large island near Italy, where purple dyes of many kinds are made.^[7] In Modern Greek it survives as Σαρδώ (Sardó).^[1]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus calls it the largest of islands.^[2][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes' Wasps names it.^[2][3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the oblique forms in -όν-.^[2][3]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it.^[3]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius has the nominative Σαρδώνη.^[2]
• 10th century AD – The Suda describes the island and its purple dyes.^[7]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Sardinia, the large island in the western Mediterranean, south of Corsica.^[2][3][5]

Word family

• Σαρδόνιος (Sardónios)
• Σαρδονικός (Sardonikós)
• Σαρδῷος (Sardōîos)

Related words

• σαρδάνιος (sardánios)
• Latin Sardinia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c Pleiades: a gazetteer of past places, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, https://pleiades.stoa.org
6. ^ a b c Smith, William, ed. (1854), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, London: Walton and Maberly
7. ^ a b Adler, Ada, ed. (1928–1938), Suidae Lexicon, 5 vols, Leipzig: Teubner