Etymologically
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κροκόδειλος

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kro.kó.deː.los/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /kroˈko.ði.los/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /kroˈko.ði.los/[1]

Forms

κροκόδειλος (krokódeilos) m (genitive κροκοδείλου); second declension[1] Correctly κροκόδῑλος, as in papyri of the 3rd century BC; also κορκόδιλος, Hipponax κροκύδιλος, κρεκύδειλος (Etymologicum Genuinum).[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[3] Herodotus says that it was the Ionic word for a lizard, which was then applied to the crocodile.[3][2][5] Frisk took it as a popular compound meaning “gravel worm”, from Ancient Greek κρόκη (krókē, “pebble”) + δρῖλος (drîlos, “worm”), with loss of the second /r/ by dissimilation.[5] Beekes says this etymology “should be forgotten”.[5][3][6][1] Grumach thought it Pre-Greek, which Kretschmer rejected.[5]

The spelling with ει, now usual, is an itacistic misspelling of κροκόδιλος.[3][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hipponax has κροκύδιλος for a lizard.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus describes the crocodile of the Nile and mentions crocodiles in the rivers of India and three-cubit land “crocodiles”, probably the desert monitor.[2][5] Aristotle distinguishes the river crocodile, and still uses the word for other lizards, as does the Septuagint in Leviticus.[2][4] Chrysippus used the derivative κροκοδιλίτης for a kind of fallacy, the “crocodile argument”, Latin crocodilina ambiguitas.[3][1]

Through Latin crocodilus it passed to the European languages, among them English crocodile.[6] Medieval Greek had forms such as κορκόδειλος and κοκόδρουλος, the latter influenced by Italian coccodrillo, and the word survives as Modern Greek κροκόδειλος (krokódilos).[8][7]

Timeline

  • 6th century BC – Hipponax uses κροκύδιλος of a lizard.[4][9]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus describes the Nile crocodile and says the name was Ionic for “lizard”.[2][3][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle speaks of the river crocodile.[2][9]
  • 3rd century BC – papyri spell it κροκόδιλος.[2]
  • 2nd century BC – the spelling κροκόδειλος appears in papyri.[2]
  • Modern Greek – κροκόδειλος.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Ionic) A lizard.[2][4]
  2. A crocodile.[2][4]
  3. (philosophy) A sophistical fallacy.[1][3]

Word family

  • κροκοδίλινος (krokodī́linos)
  • κροκοδιλίτης (krokodilítēs)

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 i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  7. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge