κράνον

Forms

κράνον (kránon) n (genitive κράνου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kr̥nom (“cornel”), which matches Latin cornum (“cornel cherry”) and cornus (“cornel tree”) exactly, with the same wavering between neuter and feminine.^[2][3][4] Frisk and Chantraine add the Lithuanian god Kirnis, protector of cherry trees, a link Beekes thinks doubtful.^[2][3][4] Van Beek lists it as one of only two possible Ionic-Attic examples of ⟨ρα⟩ from *r̥ before /n/.^[5]

Beekes allows a Mediterranean origin as an alternative, as must be assumed for κέρασος (kérasos, “cherry tree”).^[4] Van Beek adds that the older Greek name of the tree, κράνεια (kráneia), has a different suffix from the Latin word, and that the variety of suffixes in Greek and the botanical meaning make a borrowing hard to exclude.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Theophrastus, in the late 4th or early 3rd century BC, uses it for the cornelian cherry tree, which earlier writers called κράνεια (kráneia).^[6][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The usual name of the cornel tree was κράνεια (kráneia), found from Homer on, with the fruit called κράνειον (kráneion); κράνον is a rarer, later form.^[3][2] Physicians use it for the fruit: it is cited from Philagrius in Oribasius and as a variant reading in Galen.^[6][7] A feminine κράνος (krános) appears in papyri for a cornel rod and in the Geoponica for the tree.^[3][2] Modern Greek calls the cornel tree κρανιά (kraniá).^[3]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses κράνον for the cornel tree.^[6][4][8]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it, in some manuscripts, for the cornel cherry.^[6][7][8]
• 3rd–4th century AD – Philagrius, quoted by Oribasius, uses it for the fruit.^[6][8]
• 10th century AD – The Geoponica uses the feminine κράνος (krános) for the tree.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cornel tree, Cornus mas, the same as κράνεια (kráneia).^[6][4]
2. (medicine) The fruit of the cornel, the cornelian cherry.^[6][3]

Word family

• κρανέϊνος (kranéïnos)

Related words

• κράνεια (kráneia)
• Latin cornus
• Latin cornum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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
5. ^ a b van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek: Linguistic Prehistory of the Greek Dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge