δρῦς

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /drŷːs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈðrys/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈðrys/^[1]

Forms

δρῦς (drûs) f (genitive δρῠός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“wood, tree”), formed from its oblique cases, and the same word gave δόρυ (dóru, “wood, spear”).^[1][2] Apart from its long vowel, explained by the feminine gender of tree names, it is identical with Sanskrit द्रु (dru, “wood”), as in द्रुषद् (druṣád, “sitting in a tree”).^[2][3] Mycenaean has Mycenaean Greek du-ru-to-mo, /dru-tomoi/ “woodcutters”.^[2]

Cognate with Old Church Slavonic дръва (drŭva, “wood”), Albanian dru (“wood, tree”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu, “tree”) and Old English trēow (“tree”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets have Mycenaean Greek du-ru-to-mo.^[2] Homer uses it for trees and especially oaks, as in the Iliad (11.494; 12.132).^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It was the oak tree and oak timber or foliage (Homer, Hesiod, Euripides).^[6] The Odyssey, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Plato mention the sacred oak of Zeus at Dodona, whose rustling leaves gave his oracles.^[6] The proverbial “not from oak or rock” in the Odyssey seems to refer to a belief that mankind came from these, and in the Iliad to idle talk.^[6][7]

Its derivatives include δρύϊνος (drúïnos) “oaken” (Odyssey) and Δρυάς (Druás) “Dryad, tree-nymph” (Plutarch).^[2] Modern Greek δρυς is a learned word.^[8]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – Linear B has du-ru-to-mo, “woodcutters”.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for oaks.^[4][5]
• Homer – The Odyssey mentions the oak of Dodona.^[6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it.^[6][4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses Δρυάς for a tree-nymph.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tree.^[2][1]
2. The oak; oak timber.^[6][5]

Word family

• δρυπεπής (drupepḗs)
• δρύϊνος (drúïnos)
• δρυοκολάπτης (druokoláptēs)
• δρυοπτερίς (druopterís)
• χαμαίδρυς (khamaídrūs)

Related words

• δόρυ (dóru)
• English tree
• English dryad

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge