γῦρος

Forms

γῦρος (gûros) m (genitive γῡ́ρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek γυρός (gurós, “round, curved”), with the accent moved back.^[2][3][4] The adjective occurs once in Homer, of a man “round in the shoulders”.^[3][5]

Beekes finds a link with Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend”) quite possible, a root also proposed for γύης (gúēs) and γύαλον (gúalon, “hollow”).^[3][1][2] Chantraine notes that the long ⟨ῡ⟩ does not fit that root, perhaps a popular variation.^[2] Frisk and Wiktionary compare Old Armenian կոր (kor, “curved”), Lithuanian gur̃nas (“hip, ankle”) and Norwegian Nynorsk kaure (“curly lock of hair”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Theophrastus uses it of a round trench dug about a tree, and Menander perhaps of a bangle.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Polybius uses it of a circle, and in the Septuagint God walks the circle of the heaven and sits above the circle of the earth.^[5][6][7] Plutarch tells of a circle drawn round a man with a stick, and in the Acts of John the disciples form a ring holding hands.^[6]

It was borrowed as Latin gyrus, which Roman poets use of a horse's turn on the track, the orbit of a star and the coils of a snake.^[8][6][1] In medieval vernacular Greek Modern Greek γύρος (gýros) meant a circle or circumference, a hem and a circular movement, and it lives on in Modern Greek, meaning a round, tour or turn.^[9][10][11]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of a trench dug round a tree.^[5][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of a circle.^[5][7][6]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint speaks of the circle of the heaven and of the earth.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC – Latin poets use the borrowed gyrus for a turn or circuit.^[6][8]
• Medieval Greek – Vernacular texts use γύρος for a circle, circumference and circuit.^[9]
• Modern Greek – γύρος means a round, a tour or a turn.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ring, circle.^[5][7]
2. A ring of people.^[6]
3. A trench dug round a tree.^[5]
4. Perhaps a bangle.^[5]

Related words

• γυρός (gurós)
• γυρόω (guróō)
• γυρῖνος (gurînos)
• Latin gyrus
• Modern Greek γύρος (gýros)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ a b c 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
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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας