κορώνη

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ko.rɔ̌ː.nɛː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /koˈro.ni/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /koˈro.ni/^[1]

Forms

κορώνη (korṓnē) f (genitive κορώνης); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It continues an old noun with /n/, *kor-ōn, as the Italic words for “crow”, Latin cornīx (“crow”) and Umbrian curnaco (“crow”), suggest.^[2][3] The same root, apparently imitative of the bird's cry, is in κόραξ (kórax, “raven”) and κόραφος (kóraphos), and a form with /u/ appears in Latin corvus (“raven”).^[2][3][1]

The senses “hook, curved tip” have sometimes been separated from the crow and linked with κυρτός (kurtós, “curved”), but Beekes argues that the unique Greek formation speaks against this, the metaphor from the crow's beak being natural.^[2][1] The Linear B adjective Mycenaean Greek ko-ro-no-we-sa, “with curved handles”, contains it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the hook at the tip of a bow, round which the string was looped (Iliad 4.111), and in the Odyssey for a door handle and a sea-bird.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod, Archilochus and Stesichorus use it for the crow, the hooded crow.^[5] The Odyssey's “sea crow” was perhaps a shearwater or a cormorant.^[5][2] It also named many curved or hooked things: the tip of a plough-pole (Apollonius of Rhodes), the stern of a ship (Aratus), a swelling of the elbow (Hippocrates) and a kind of crown.^[2]

Its derivative κορωνίς (korōnís) meant “curved”, of ships, and later a curved stroke at the end of a book.^[2] Medieval Greek has κουρούνα for the crow.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the tip of a bow.^[5][6]
• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for a door handle and a sea-bird.^[5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the crow.^[5][6][8]
• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it for a swelling.^[2][8]
• Medieval – Vernacular Greek has κουρούνα.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crow, hooded crow.^[5][2]
2. A sea-bird, perhaps a shearwater or cormorant.^[5][2]
3. The hooked tip of a bow; the tip of a plough-pole.^[5][2]
4. A door handle.^[5]
5. The curved stern of a ship.^[2]
6. (medicine) A swelling of the elbow.^[2]

Word family

• κορώνεως (korṓneōs)
• κορωνιάω (korōniáō)
• κορωνίς (korōnís)
• κορωνός (korōnós)
• κορωνόν (korōnón)

Related words

• Latin cornīx

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge