Etymologically
Log in

βόμβυξ

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /bóm.byːks/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈβom.byks/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈvom.byks/[1]

Forms

βόμβῡξ (bómbūx) m (genitive βόμβῡκος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is a loanword from the east.[2][3][4] Beekes thinks it must be of Anatolian origin, as its structure suggests: an original ⟨*p/bamb-ūk-⟩ with a suffix ⟨-ūk-⟩.[2][5] He notes that silk was produced in Kos and Asia Minor before it was brought from farther east.[2] It recalls a group of words for cotton, of which Ottoman Turkish pambuk (“cotton”) is the best match.[2][3] Frisk adds Middle Persian pambak (“cotton”) and the Greek πάμβαξ (pámbax) and βαμβάκιον (bambákion).[2][3][4] The PHILOGLOSSA database rates the explanation as of low reliability.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is a fragment of Aeschylus, where it means a flute: a player holds “bombukes, the work of the lathe”.[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In music it was a deep-toned flute, the cap or neck of a flute, and the lowest note of the scale, a sense Aristotle cites from the Pythagoreans.[7][4] Aristotle is also the first to use it for the silkworm, and Pliny for the cocoon.[7][2][4] Alciphron uses it for a silk garment, and Pliny for cotton from Egypt.[4][7] Hesychius adds that it meant a kind of wasp and, among the Spartans, a jar.[8][7]

Latin borrowed it as bombyx, and it is the source of the scientific name Bombyx.[1][3] Modern Greek has βόμβυκας (vómvykas).[1]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a flute.[4][7]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the silkworm and for the lowest note of the flute.[7][4]
  • 1st century AD – Pliny uses Latin bombyx for the silk cocoon and for cotton.[4]
  • 4th century AD – Alciphron uses it for a silk garment.[7][4]
  • 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius records it as a Laconian word for a jar.[8][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The silkworm.[7][2]
  2. A silk garment.[7][4]
  3. A deep-toned flute; the cap of a flute.[7][4]
  4. The lowest note on the flute.[7][4]
  5. An insect like a wasp.[7][4]
  6. (Laconian) A jar.[7][8]

Word family

  • βομβύκινος (bombū́kinos)
  • βομβύκιον (bombúkion)
  • βομβυκοειδής (bombukoeidḗs)
  • βαμβάκιον (bambákion)
  • Latin bombyx

Usage notes

PHILOGLOSSA treats the flute word as a separate entry among sound words, beside the silkworm.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)