κόνις

Forms

κόνῐς (kónis) f (genitive κόνεως or κόνῐος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *konis- (“ashes”), an s-stem.^[2] Wiktionary traces it to an o-grade of Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“dust, ashes”).^[1] The stem in -s- is also seen in κονίσαλος (konísalos, “cloud of dust”), in κονίω (konī́ō, “to cover with dust”) from *konis-je/o-, and in κονία (koníā, “dust”).^[2] Beekes takes it as an original neuter s-stem, of which Tocharian B kentse (“dust, rust”) is a thematised form; the further basis is unknown, and -κναίω (-knaíō) is unrelated.^[2]

Cognate with Latin cinis (“ashes”), from *kenis-, which differs from the Greek in its e-vowel.^[2][1]

Ancient writers derived it from κινέω (kinéō, “to set in motion”), because dust is stirred up (Apollonius the Sophist), or from κνάω (knáō, “to scrape”) (Herodian).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on: in the Iliad it is the dust of the ground, where fallen men lie, and in the Odyssey the ashes by the fire in which Laertes sleeps.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Homer already uses dust, with sand, as an image of a countless number, and the ashes poured over the head as a sign of mourning.^[4][5] In Hesiod, Bacchylides and tragedy it is the dust raised by armies and horses, and Aeschylus calls it the “voiceless messenger” of an army.^[4][5] In Pindar, Sophocles and Euripides it is the earth that covers the dead and the dust sprinkled on a corpse.^[4][5] Callimachus uses it for the ashes of a cremated body, and Plutarch for the sand of the wrestling-ground.^[5]

The ancient word survives in Modern Greek σκόνη (skóni, “dust”), a medieval form of κόνις with a prefixed s- taken over from the article in phrases such as της κόνης.^[6][7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for dust and ashes.^[4][5]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Shield uses it for the dust raised by chariots.^[4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for the earth over a grave.^[4][5]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it for the ashes of the dead.^[5]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the sand of the wrestling-ground.^[5]
• Modern Greek – σκόνη (skóni), a medieval form of the word, is the word for dust.^[6][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Dust of the ground, in which the slain lie, or raised in the air by armies and horses.^[4][5]
2. The dust sprinkled on a corpse, or the earth covering a grave.^[5][4]
3. Dust as an image of a countless number.^[4][5]
4. Ashes, also poured on the head in mourning, and the ashes of a cremated body.^[4][5]
5. The sand of the wrestling-ground.^[5]

Word family

• κονιορτός (koniortós)
• κονίω (konī́ō)

Related words

• κονία (koníā)
• Latin cinis
• Modern Greek σκόνη (skóni)

Usage notes

κόνις is a different page from κονίς (konís, “nit”), the egg of a louse.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας