κυπάρισσος

Forms

κῠπᾰ́ρῐσσος (kupárissos) f (genitive κῠπᾰρῐ́σσου); second declension^[1] Attic κυπάριττος (kupárittos).^[2][3] Forms with ⟨κυφ-⟩: an adjective in an inscription from Aegina, the epithet Κυφαρισσία of Artemis in Laconia and Κυφαρισσίτας of Pan in Crete.^[3] Mycenaean Greek ku-pa-ri-se-ja, an adjective “of cypress wood”.^[4]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of the “foreign phoneme” written ⟨-σσ-⟩, Attic ⟨-ττ-⟩, the suffix ⟨-ισσ-⟩, and above all the variant with ⟨Κυφ-⟩ in a place name and in divine epithets.^[5][3] PHILOGLOSSA rates this explanation as very reliable.^[6] Chantraine calls it a Mediterranean word of unknown origin.^[7] Beekes thinks that a Hebrew tree name may come from the same source, but Rosół rejects the old Semitic etymologies from the Hebrew words for pitch and for the wood of Noah's ark.^[5][4]

It passed into Latin as cupressus, perhaps through Etruscan.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean already has the adjective ku-pa-ri-se-ja, “of cypress wood”.^[4] In Homer the Iliad has it as a place name, and the Odyssey for the cypress tree.^[8][9][2]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus, Euripides, Plato and Theocritus use it for the tree or its wood, Plato in the Attic form κυπάριττος (kupárittos).^[2][9] Divine epithets formed from it were given to Apollo on Cos, Artemis in Laconia and Pan in Crete.^[3]

Hellenistic Greek formed the diminutive κυπαρίσσιον, which became medieval κυπαρίσσι(ν) and Modern Greek κυπαρίσσι (kiparísi), the ordinary word for the tree, while κυπάρισσος is a learned word in Modern Greek.^[10][11] Through Latin it reached many European languages, among them French cyprès, Italian cipresso and German Zypresse.^[11] English cypress, first recorded in the late 12th century, came through Old French and Late Latin, and cypress branches were an emblem of mourning used at funerals.^[12]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The Linear B tablets have the adjective ku-pa-ri-se-ja.^[4]
• Homer – The Iliad has it as a place name and the Odyssey for the cypress tree.^[8][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it for the tree and its wood.^[2][6][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato writes the Attic form κυπάριττος (kupárittos).^[9][2][13]
• Late 12th century – English borrows cypress, through Old French.^[12]
• Modern Greek – The tree is called κυπαρίσσι (kiparísi), from a Hellenistic diminutive.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cypress tree, Cupressus.^[2][8]
2. Cypress wood.^[2]

Word family

• κυπαρίσσινος (kuparíssinos)
• κυπαρισσίας (kuparissíās)
• κυπαρισσόκομος (kuparissókomos)
• χαμαικυπάρισσος (khamaíkupárissos)

Related words

• Latin cupressus
• English cypress

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ a b Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge