γρομφάς

Forms

γρομφάς (gromphás) f (genitive γρομφάδος); third declension.^[1][2] Also γρόμφις (grómphis) (genitive γρόμφιος), found in Hipponax and Hesychius, and γρόμφαινα (grómphaina), both meaning a sow.^[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes and Frisk take it as one of a group of expressive, sound-imitating words for the grunting pig, beside the verb γρύζω (grúzō, “to grunt, mutter”), which begins with the same sounds, and στομφάζω (stompházō, “to talk loudly”), which ends with the same ones.^[2][3] Frisk thinks that the nouns were surely formed from the verb γρομφάζω (grompházō, “to grunt”), recorded in the glossaries, and he rejects an old link with γράφω (gráphō).^[3] Beekes and the Πάπυρος dictionary describe the etymology as uncertain beyond this.^[2][4]

Whether Latin scrōfa (“sow”) was borrowed from it is an open question: Beekes asks it, noting that the Latin word lacks the nasal (perhaps a sign of prenasalization in the Greek), and Frisk leaves it undecided, while Pokorny states the borrowing as a fact.^[2][3][5] Köbler, following Pokorny, places the group under Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”), but Beekes gives no Indo-European root.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is known only from the lexicographers: Hesychius glosses it as an old sow and adds σκρόφα, the Latin word for a breeding sow written in Greek letters.^[7][1][2] The variant γρόμφις (grómphis) is older, found already in Hipponax.^[2][3][1]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses the variant γρόμφις (grómphis) for a sow.^[2][3][1]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses the word as an old sow.^[7][1]

Meanings

Noun

1. An old sow.^[7][1][2]

Related words

• γρόμφις (grómphis)
• γρόμφαινα (grómphaina)
• γρομφάζω (grompházō)
• γρύζω (grúzō)
• Latin scrōfa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)