κηρός

Forms

κηρός (kērós) m (genitive κηροῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain; it is probably a foreign word.^[2][3][4] Since there is no evidence for beekeeping among the Indo-Europeans, Beekes reckons with a foreign origin, perhaps from Pre-Greek, and the derivative κήρινθος (kḗrinthos, “bee-bread”) has a suffix typical of Pre-Greek words.^[2][3][5] Frisk thought of an Eastern origin.^[4]

Since Curtius the word has been compared with the Baltic name of the honeycomb, Lithuanian korỹs and Latvian kāre.^[3][4][2] The vowels do not match, however: the Baltic forms point to a long ⟨ā⟩, while every Greek form points to Proto-Greek ⟨ē⟩, and no Doric form with ⟨ᾱ⟩ is found.^[2][4] The word Latin cēra (“wax”) was probably borrowed from κηρός.^[2][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Odyssey: it means beeswax.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In classical Greek it is wax, a byword for softness: Plato speaks of something more easily moulded than wax.^[7] Wax was used in encaustic painting, as inscriptions from Epidaurus show, and to coat writing tablets, as papyri show.^[7] Theocritus uses it for the honeycomb itself,^[7][8] Lucian for sealing wax, and Galen and Dioscorides for a white “Tyrrhenian” wax used in medicine;^[7] Heliodorus has the plural for wax tapers.^[7]

Its derivative κηρίον (kēríon, “honeycomb”) gave, as a diminutive, Medieval Greek κερί(ν), the everyday Modern Greek word for wax, Modern Greek κερί (kerí).^[10][5] The modern κηρός (kirós) is a learned word.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for beeswax.^[7][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions wax.^[9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses wax as an example of something easily moulded.^[7][11]
• 4th century BC – Inscriptions from Epidaurus record wax used in encaustic painting.^[7]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it for the honeycomb.^[7][8][11]
• 1st century AD – Papyri mention wax for writing tablets.^[7]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it for sealing wax.^[7][11]
• Medieval Greek – κερί(ν), from κηρίον, appears; it is the Modern Greek word for wax.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Beeswax, wax.^[7][8]
2. A honeycomb.^[7][8]
3. Wax for writing tablets, encaustic painting or sealing.^[7]
4. (medicine) A white wax used in remedies.^[7]
5. (plural) Wax tapers.^[7]

Word family

• κήρινος (kḗrinos)
• κηρίον (kēríon)
• κηρίων (kēríōn)

Related words

• κήρινθος (kḗrinthos)
• Latin cēra
• Modern Greek κερί (kerí)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge