γοργός

Forms

γοργός (gorgós) m (feminine γοργή, neuter γοργόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][1] Frisk rejects the comparisons with Old Irish garg (“rough, wild”), Old Church Slavonic гроза (groza, “horror”) and Old Armenian կարծր (karcr, “hard”).^[3][2] Leumann took γοργός as a back-formation from γοργώψ (gorgṓps) and γοργωπός (gorgōpós, “fierce-eyed”), which would make the name of the Γοργώ (Gorgṓ, “Gorgon”) primary, and Frisk notes that Γοργώ looks like a popular reduplicated formation, like Μορμώ (Mormṓ).^[3][2] Babiniotis also derives the adjective from the Gorgon's name.^[4] A link with γόργυρα (górgura) has also been proposed, but Beekes finds it implausible.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, where Parthenopaeus has a grim, fierce eye.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In Euripides and Xenophon it describes a fierce look and terrible warriors, and Xenophon also uses it for a spirited horse.^[6][7] From the Hellenistic period on it means vigorous and lively, of persons in Lucian and of animals in the papyri, and Procopius uses it in the sense “quick”.^[6][8][4] Rhetoricians use it for a vehement, vigorous style.^[6] In the first letter of Clement it means vigorous.^[9]

It continued in medieval Greek, and Modern Greek γοργός (gorgós) means quick and lively.^[10][8]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of a fierce eye.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of a warrior's look.^[6][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of soldiers and of horses.^[6][7]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus may use it of style.^[6][5]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for a lively person.^[6][5]
• 6th century AD – Procopius uses it in the sense “quick”.^[6][5]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek γοργός (gorgós) means quick and lively.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Grim, fierce, terrible, of the eye or look and of warriors.^[6][7]
2. Spirited, vigorous, of horses and persons.^[6][7]
3. (late) Quick.^[6]
4. (rhetoric) Vehement, vigorous, of style.^[6]

Word family

• γοργόομαι (gorgóomai)
• γοργωπός (gorgōpós)
• γοργεύω (gorgeúō)
• γοργία (gorgía)
• γοργότης (gorgótēs)
• γοργόφθαλμος (gorgóphthalmos)

Related words

• Γοργώ (Gorgṓ)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux