κάπρος

Forms

κᾰ́προς (kápros) m (genitive κᾰ́πρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kápros,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“male hooved animal”).^[1] It matches exactly an Italic and Germanic word for the he-goat: Latin caper, Umbrian cabru and Old Norse hafr.^[2][3][4] A Celtic trace has been sought in a Gallo-Romance plant name meaning “honeysuckle”, and Wiktionary adds Old Irish gabor (“goat”).^[2][3][1]

Beekes and Chantraine explain the shift of meaning by the new Greek name of the he-goat, τράγος (trágos), which left the old word free to name the boar, first as an apposition in the phrase σῦς (sûs) κάπρος, as in Homer.^[2][3] Briand analyses all these forms as an old adjective meaning “devouring greedily”, from a root Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to take”) (compare Latin capiō and κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”)), which each language turned into the name of a different male animal.^[2] Latin aper (“boar”) is not related; it only took its vowel from caper.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means a wild boar, both alone and joined to σῦς (sûs), and a boar offered in sacrifice.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Ionic and Attic it remained the word for the boar, sometimes for a domestic pig; one comic poet even uses it of sows.^[3][6][4] From Aristotle on it also names a sea fish, Capros aper, perhaps after the sound it makes.^[2][3][4] Its derivatives include the diminutives καπρίδιον (kaprídion, “piglet”) and καπρίσκος (kaprískos), used for the fish, and κάπραινα (kápraina), used in comedy only of a lewd woman.^[3]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word, and it is still in use.^[7] Today Modern Greek κάπρος (kápros) is a learned word for the wild boar.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the wild boar, and for a boar as a sacrificial victim.^[5][4]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of boars.^[10][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a sea fish.^[4][2][11]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word for the wild boar.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boar, especially a wild boar; also in apposition, σῦς (sûs) κάπρος.^[4][6][5]
2. A boar as a sacrificial victim.^[5]
3. (comedy) A sow.^[4]
4. A sea fish, the boarfish Capros aper.^[4][2]

Related words

• Latin caper
• κάπτω (káptō)

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 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 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
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. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge