Etymologically
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Σειρήν

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /seː.rɛ̌ːn/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /siˈrin/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /siˈrin/[1]

Forms

Σειρήν (Seirḗn) f (genitive Σειρῆνος); third declension[1] Attic vase inscriptions have ⟨Σιρ-⟩.[2] Doric Σηρήν.[3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain, since the word's first meaning is unknown.[4][2] Formally it can be linked either with σειρά (seirá, “rope, cord”), as “the one who ensnares”, or with Σείριος (Seírios, “Sirius”), as a personification of the noonday heat and its magic, which Solmsen preferred.[2][4][1] Chantraine favoured a Pre-Greek or Mediterranean origin because of the suffix ⟨-ήν⟩, and Furnée took the name of the wild bees to be Pre-Greek.[2][1] Others proposed a Thracian or Phrygian source.[4] A Mycenaean compound with it has been suggested, but Risch doubted it.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the twelfth book of the Odyssey the Sirens are creatures who lure passing sailors with their beautiful song and destroy them.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Later the Sirens were imagined as bird-women: Euripides calls them “winged maidens”.[5][2] Their images stood on graves, and Euripides summons them to accompany a dirge.[5][3] In Plato's Republic a Siren sits on each circle of the cosmic spindle, each singing one note, the music of the spheres.[5][3]

Figuratively it was any enchanting singer, as Alcman calls the Muse a Siren; a deceitful temptress in Euripides; and the charm of eloquence in Aeschines and Plutarch.[3][5] Aristotle uses it for a kind of wild bee.[2][1] The Septuagint has the adjective Σειρήνειος.[2]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey tells of the Sirens' song.[2][5]
  • 7th century BC – Alcman calls the Muse a Siren.[3]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides calls them winged maidens and uses it for a temptress.[5][3]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato places Sirens on the circles of the cosmic spindle.[5][3]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a wild bee, and Aeschines for the charm of speech.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (mythology) A Siren, a creature that lures sailors to their death with song.[5][2]
  2. An enchanting singer; one of the Sirens of the music of the spheres.[3][5]
  3. (figurative) A deceitful temptress.[5][3]
  4. (figurative) Enchanting charm, as of eloquence.[5][3]
  5. A kind of wild bee.[2][1]
  • σειρά (seirá)
  • Σείριος (Seírios)
  • English siren

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press