κρύος

Forms

κρῠ́ος (krúos) n (genitive κρῠ́ους or κρῠ́εος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][1] The usual explanation makes it inherited from Proto-Indo-European *krus-, a zero grade of *krews- (“to freeze, form a crust”), and compares Old Norse hrjósa (“to shiver”) and Old High German hroso (“ice, crust”).^[2][1] Latin crusta (“crust”) has often been compared too; de Vaan, cited by Beekes, explains it from a basic sense “hardened part”.^[2] In meaning Tocharian B krośce (“cold”) would fit perfectly, but its vowel is difficult.^[2]

Beekes's alternative starts from the derivative κρυμός (krūmós, “frost”): with Avestan xrūma (“horrible”) it may go back to Proto-Indo-European *kruh₂-mo-, from the root of words for raw, bloody flesh, and κρύος would then be *kruh₂-s-.^[2] Wiktionary finds this less convincing in meaning.^[1] κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “ice”) is often connected, but Beekes takes it as Pre-Greek.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesiod's Works and Days uses it for the icy cold of winter, frost.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Aeschylus used it figuratively, for the chill of terror that grips the heart and for the icy sting of a lash.^[3][4] Aristotle speaks of hard frost, and Plutarch uses it in medicine for an abnormal coldness of the body.^[3][4] In Homer only the derivatives are found, with a sense “horrible, chilling”: κρυόεις (kruóeis) and κρυερός (kruerós), which later poets used for “icy cold”.^[2] A scholiast on Aristophanes uses a masculine κρύος for ice.^[3]

In medieval Greek the neuter noun was taken as a masculine adjective, the source of Modern Greek κρύος (krýos, “cold”); the noun lives on as κρύο (krýo, “cold”).^[5][6] English builds learned words on it with English cryo-.^[7]

Timeline

• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for the frost of winter.^[3][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the chill of fear.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle speaks of a strong frost.^[3]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a chill of the body.^[4]
• Medieval Greek – The noun is reinterpreted as an adjective “cold”.^[5]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek κρύος (krýos) means “cold”, and the noun is κρύο (krýo).^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Icy cold, frost, freezing weather.^[3][4]
2. (figurative) A chill of terror; the icy sting of a lash.^[4][3]
3. (medicine) A chill, an abnormal coldness of the body.^[4]
4. (masculine, late) Ice, the same as κρύσταλλος (krústallos).^[3]

Word family

• κρυερός (kruerós)
• κρυόεις (kruóeis)
• κρυώδης (kruṓdēs)

Related words

• κρυμός (krūmós)
• κρύσταλλος (krústallos)
• ὀκρυόεις (okruóeis)
• Latin crusta
• English cryo-

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 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 h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
6. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com