Etymologically
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δασύς

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /da.sýs/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ðaˈsys/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ðaˈsys/[1]

Forms

δᾰσῠ́ς (dasús) m (feminine δᾰσεῖᾰ, neuter δᾰσύ); first/third declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[2][3] The old comparison with Latin dēnsus (“dense”) depends on whether /s/ was kept after a syllabic /n̥/ in Greek, which is disputed, and Frisk notes that the Latin o-stem does not match the Greek u-stem.[3][4][2] Wiktionary still derives it from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥s-, the zero grade of *dens- (“thick”).[1] Hittite daššu- (“heavy, strong”) used to be added, but Kloekhorst connects it rather with διδάσκω (didáskō).[3]

Brugmann proposed an older *δατύς (*datús) because of the names Δατυς (Datus) at Delphi, but Beekes and Frisk object that -συ- in δασύς cannot come from -τυ-.[3][4][2] The DGE asks whether it might be a compound of the intensive δα- (da-) and σῦς (sûs, “pig”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Odyssey it is used of a large shaggy skin and of thick, leafy brushwood.[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Ionic and Attic it means hairy or shaggy, of hares, goatskins and rawhide shields, and of the rough armpits of uncivilised people in comedy;[7][6] it is used of thickly lined cloaks and shoes, of leafy lettuce, and of thickly wooded places, with a neuter noun for a thicket.[7][6] The Hippocratic writers say of the bald that they become hairy again.[6] It is the opposite of ψιλός (psilós) “bare” in all its senses.[6]

Aristotle, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Dionysius Thrax used it for an aspirated sound, θ, φ and χ, and the rough breathing was called δασεῖα (daseîa).[6] Its derivatives include δασύτης (dasútēs) “hairiness, aspiration” and δάσος (dásos) “thicket”.[4]

Modern Greek has δασύς (dasýs) “thick, bushy”, continuing the ancient word, and a learned δασύς for the aspirated consonants.[9][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey uses it of a shaggy skin and of leafy brushwood.[6][7]
  • 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it of thick clothing.[7][5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of downy young hares and wooded country.[6][7][5]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for an aspirated sound.[6][5]
  • 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus names θ, φ and χ as aspirated.[6][5]
  • Modern Greek – δασύς means “thick, bushy”.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Hairy, shaggy, covered with a rough growth.[6][7]
  2. Thick, thickly lined, of clothing and shoes.[7]
  3. Thick with leaves, bushy; of places, thickly wooded; neuter as a noun, a thicket.[6][7]
  4. Rough, thick in general, as of clouds; of urine, cloudy.[6]
  5. (grammar) Aspirated; feminine as a noun, the rough breathing.[6]

Word family

  • δασύμαλλος (dasúmallos)
  • δασύπους (dasúpous)
  • δασύτης (dasútēs)
  • δασεῖα (daseîa)
  • δάσος (dásos)
  • ἱππόδασυς (hippódasus)
  • ψιλός (psilós)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 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
  4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας