κόγχος

Forms

κόγχος (kónkhos) m (genitive κόγχου); second declension^[1] Also feminine in Polybius and Pausanias.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the masculine beside κόγχη (kónkhē, “mussel, cockle”), with the same meaning.^[4][5] Beekes considers the word Pre-Greek, because it is clearly related to κόχλος (kókhlos, “spiral shell, snail”), the pair showing the prenasalization typical of Pre-Greek words, and because Aristotle's text has variants such as κοκάλια (kokália) and κωκάλια (kōkália).^[4]

It has long been compared with Sanskrit शङ्ख (śaṅkhá, “mussel, conch”), from which some reconstruct Proto-Indo-European *ḱongʰ- (“shell, mussel”), but no common pre-form can be set up, and the Greek and Sanskrit aspirates do not correspond regularly.^[4][1] If the comparison is right, the Greek and the Sanskrit words may be loans from a common source.^[4][1] From κόγχη came Latin concha,^[4] and Saalfeld lists conchis as borrowed from κόγχος itself.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are a fragment of Aeschylus and one of Epicharmus, where it means a mussel or cockle, the same as κόγχη (kónkhē).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Like κόγχη (kónkhē), it soon named a shellful and things shaped like a shell.^[2][3] The comic poet Phrynichus speaks of a shellful of salt, and Dioscorides uses it as a small measure.^[2] Lycophron uses it for the upper part of the skull, Polybius for the boss of a shield, Dioscorides for a small iron crucible, and Pollux for the socket of the eye and the kneecap.^[2][3] Timon has it for a soup of lentils boiled in their pods.^[2][1] Hesychius explains it as κοχλίας (kokhlías, “snail”).^[7]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it, also as κόγκος (kónkos).^[8] In Modern Greek κόγχος (kónchos) lives on in the anatomical term for the eye socket, continuing the late ancient sense.^[9][5]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for a mussel or cockle.^[2][10]
• 5th century BC – The comic poet Phrynichus speaks of a shellful of salt.^[2][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle's History of Animals uses it for shellfish.^[2][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Lycophron uses it for the upper part of the skull.^[2][11]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it, as a feminine, for the boss of a shield.^[2][3][10]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it for a small iron crucible.^[2][10]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux records it for the eye socket and the kneecap.^[2][10]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts have it as κόγχος (kónchos) and κόγκος (kónkos).^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives in the anatomical term for the eye socket.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mussel or cockle; a sea shell.^[2][3]
2. A shellful, used as a small measure.^[2][1]
3. Something shaped like a shell: the upper part of the skull, the boss of a shield, a small iron crucible, the socket of the eye, the kneecap.^[2][3]
4. A soup of lentils boiled in their pods.^[2][1]

Word family

• κόγχη (kónkhē)

Related words

• κογχύλιον (konkhúlion)
• κόχλος (kókhlos)
• Latin concha
• Latin conchis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux