κόοι

Forms

κόοι (kóoi) m pl, the only form recorded.^[1] LSJ heads it under the singular κόος (kóos).^[1][2]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱouHo- (“hollow”), the pre-form Beekes gives for its cognate Latin cavus (“hollow”).^[3][4] Beekes and Frisk take κόοι as the root from which κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”), originally *κόϝιλος (*kówilos) with an /l/-suffix, was derived, and compare Old Irish cúa (“hollow”).^[3][5] Pokorny places it under the root Proto-Indo-European *k̑eu- (“to swell”), with κῶος (kôos, “cave”) and κύαρ (kúar, “hole”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is known only from Hesychius, who glosses it as “the chasms of the earth, and the hollows”.^[1][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) Chasms or cavities in the earth; hollows.^[1][2]

Related words

• κοῖλος (koîlos)
• Latin cavus

Usage notes

The Etymologicum Magnum records a Laconian κόον (kóon) meaning “great”, which LSJ places beside this word.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
2. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b 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
4. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press