κάνθαρος

Forms

κάνθᾰρος (kántharos) m (genitive κανθᾰ́ρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, following Chantraine, who pointed to the personal names and to place-names such as Kantharos, a harbour of Piraeus.^[2][3] Beekes's lexicon of Pre-Greek also notes the suffix -αρ-.^[3] Strömberg connected it with κάνθων (kánthōn, “pack-ass”) and κανθήλιος (kanthḗlios, “pack-ass”), with the suffix of χίμαρος (khímaros, “he-goat”), because the beetle rolls its load of dung, but Beekes finds this hardly probable.^[2][1] Babiniotis also gives the link with the word for the ass as possible.^[4]

For the sense “cup”, Szemerényi proposed a loan from Akkadian kandurû (“a small container”), which would separate the cup from the beetle.^[2][5] Rosół lists this among the rejected Semitic etymologies.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Babiniotis dates the first use to Hipponax in the 6th century BC, and the CGL lists Hipponax for the dung-beetle.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The beetle is the main sense in the classical period: Aeschylus and Sophocles mention the large “Etnaean beetle”, and Aristophanes' Peace opens with the hero flying to heaven on a dung-beetle, with a pun on a kind of Naxian boat also called κάνθαρος.^[7][6] Aristotle describes it in his zoology, and also uses the word for the black sea-bream.^[7] Herodotus uses it for the scarab-shaped mark under the tongue of the Apis bull in Egypt.^[7][6] The comic poets use it for a drinking-cup with large handles, and Antiphanes for a woman's ornament, probably a scarab-shaped gem.^[7] A proverb, “the shadows of a beetle”, was said of an empty fear.^[7][8]

Latin borrowed the name of the cup as Latin cantharus.^[9] Modern Greek κάνθαρος (kántharos) is a learned word for a beetle in zoology and, in archaeology, for the two-handled drinking-cup on a high foot.^[10]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it for the dung-beetle.^[6][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the scarab-mark on the tongue of the Apis bull.^[7][6]
• 5th century BC – The comic poet Phrynichus uses it for a drinking-cup.^[7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for the dung-beetle and a kind of boat.^[7][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the black sea-bream.^[7]
• Modern Greek – κάνθαρος (kántharos) is a learned word for a beetle and for the ancient drinking-cup.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dung-beetle, Scarabaeus pilularius; also a beetle in general.^[7][6]
2. A drinking-cup with large handles.^[7][2]
3. A kind of light boat from Naxos.^[7][6]
4. The black sea-bream.^[7]
5. A scarab-shaped mark under the tongue of the Apis bull.^[7][6]
6. A woman's ornament, probably a gem in the shape of a scarab.^[7]

Word family

• ἱπποκάνθαρος (hippokántharos)
• ἡλιοκάνθαρος (hēliokántharos)
• κανθαρίς (kantharís)
• κανθαροποιός (kantharopoiós)

Related words

• Latin cantharus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki