Etymologically
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κρύος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /krý.os/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈkry.os/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈkry.os/[1]

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)

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