κυνικός

Forms

κῠνῐκός (kunikós) m (feminine κῠνῐκή, neuter κῠνῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn, “dog”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2][3] The noun κύων (kúōn) goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”), genitive *ḱun-ós, which the Greek genitive κυνός (kunós) continues.^[4][1]

The Cynic philosophers, the followers of Antisthenes, were said to be named after the gymnasium of Κυνόσαργες (Kunósarges) where he taught, or after their dog-like way of life, and Diogenes the Cynic himself is quoted explaining it the second way.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as a variant reading in Xenophon's Cyropaedia, meaning “dog-like”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The plain sense “of a dog, dog-like” stayed in use: Plutarch speaks of the dog-like and bestial part of the appetites, the Septuagint calls a man currish, and medical writers name a one-sided facial paralysis the “dog spasm”.^[2][6] Polyaenus uses it for the heat of the dog days.^[2][6]

From the 4th century BC it was the name of the Cynic philosophers: Menander mentions “Crates the Cynic”, and later writers speak of the Cynic sect, discipline and philosophy.^[2] Their blunt outspokenness, Cynic παρρησία (parrhēsía), became proverbial, and Plutarch uses the neuter for a Cynic-like frankness of speech.^[2][7]

It passed into Latin cynicus, from which come English cynic (1550s) and French cynique.^[8][5][3] Modern Greek κυνικός (kynikós) is a learned word: it keeps the ancient philosophical sense and has taken the sense “cynical” from French.^[9][3]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon's Cyropaedia has it in some manuscripts in the sense “dog-like”.^[2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander mentions “Crates the Cynic”.^[2]
• 2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it of a currish, churlish man.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Celsus records the medical name of a one-sided facial paralysis, the “dog spasm”.^[2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch writes of Cynic frankness of speech.^[2][7]
• 3rd century AD – Diogenes Laertius explains the name from the gymnasium where Antisthenes taught.^[2]
• 1550s – English borrows it as cynic, through Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – κυνικός (kynikós) means both “Cynic” and “cynical”.^[9][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a dog, dog-like.^[2][7]
2. (figurative) Currish, churlish.^[2]
3. (medicine) κυνικὸς σπασμός, a one-sided facial paralysis.^[2]
4. Cynic, belonging to the Cynic philosophers: their sect, way of life or frankness of speech.^[2][7]

Noun

1. A Cynic, a follower of Antisthenes and Diogenes.^[2][7][5]

Related words

• κύων (kúōn)
• Κυνόσαργες (Kunósarges)
• Latin cynicus
• English cynic

Usage notes

Etymonline notes that Lucian calls a little Cynic κυνίσκος (kunískos), literally “puppy”.^[5]

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 m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ 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 c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki