κάλυξ

Forms

κᾰ́λῠξ (kálux) f or m (genitive κᾰ́λῠκος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because both its root and its suffix look like Pre-Greek elements.^[2] It resembles Sanskrit कलिका (kalikā, “bud”), a word of Classical Sanskrit, but Beekes and Chantraine, following Mayrhofer, think the two are probably unrelated.^[2][3] LSJ and Wiktionary suggest a link with καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”), though the final consonant does not fit, and Chantraine also compares κύλιξ (kúlix, “cup”) and Latin calix (“cup”).^[4][1][3] Etymonline derives it from the stem of the verb for “to cover” and so from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover”), adding that others connect it with the word for “cup”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Iliad, where the plural κάλυκες names some kind of woman's jewellery.^[6][4][7] LSJ and the CGL suggest earrings shaped like flower cups or rosettes.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite uses the word again for jewellery, and the Hymn to Demeter for the bud of a rose, a poetic sense that recurs in Theocritus and in the Anthology.^[4][3][7] In prose it is the covering of a seed or fruit: Herodotus uses it of the seed head of the water-lily and of the husk of rice, and Theophrastus of the sheath of wheat.^[4][3] Aeschylus has it for the swelling bud of the crop, and the comic poet Cratinus and Aristotle for the cup of a flower.^[4][7] Dioscorides gives it as another name for the alkanet, ἄγχουσα (ánkhousa).^[4][3] Hesychius adds that some called embryos κάλυκες.^[3]

Compounds such as καλυκοστέφανος (kalukostéphanos, “crowned with buds”) in Bacchylides and καλυκῶπις (kalukôpis, “with a face like a rosebud”) in the Hymn to Demeter show the word's poetic use.^[2][3] It passed into Latin as calyx, which gave the botanical term English calyx in English in the 1680s.^[1][5][3] In Modern Greek the learned κάλυκας (kálykas) is the calyx of a flower, with a botanical sense shaped by French calice, and also the metal case of a cartridge, a sense modelled on English.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the plural for ornaments worn by women.^[6][10]
• Before the 6th century BC – The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite and the Cypria use it of jewellery and of flowers.^[10][4]
• 6th century BC – The Hymn to Demeter uses it of a rosebud.^[4][10]
• 5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of a swelling bud, Cratinus of the cup of anemones, and Herodotus of the seed head of the water-lily.^[4][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle and Theophrastus use it as a botanical term for the cup of a flower and the sheath of grain.^[4]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides gives it as a name of the alkanet.^[4]
• 1680s – English borrows calyx from Latin calyx.^[5]
• Modern Greek – The learned κάλυκας (kálykas) means the calyx of a flower and the case of a cartridge.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The husk, pod or sheath that covers a seed or fruit.^[4][7]
2. The cup of a flower, the calyx; in poetry a flower bud, especially a rosebud.^[4][7]
3. (in the plural, epic) Ornaments worn by women, perhaps earrings shaped like flower cups.^[4][7][6]
4. The alkanet, a dye plant.^[4][1]

Related words

• καλύπτω (kalúptō)
• κύλιξ (kúlix)
• καλύκιον (kalúkion)
• Latin calyx
• English calyx

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux