κύκλος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ký.klos/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈcy.klos/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈcy.klos/^[1]

Forms

κῠ́κλος (kúklos) m (genitive κῠ́κλου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kúklos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“circle, wheel”), an old name of the wheel with intensive reduplication.^[1][2] The reduplication vowel became /u/ next to the labiovelars.^[2][3] Mycenaean probably had *ku-ko-ro.^[1]

Cognate with Sanskrit चक्र (cakrá, “wheel”), Avestan čaxra- (čaxra-, “wheel”), Old English hwēol (“wheel”) and Tocharian A kukäl (“wagon”).^[2][3] The Phrygian gloss κίκλην (kíklēn) “the Bear (constellation)” is related, originally “wagon”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses the neuter plural κύκλα for the wheels of a chariot (Iliad 5.722), and κύκλος for the circle of hunters round their game (Odyssey 4.792) and for the concentric circles of bronze on a shield (Iliad 11.33).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Classical Greek used it for any circle or circular figure (Herodotus, Aristophanes, Plato), for circular objects and areas, a ring of people, a circular motion, and a cycle of things recurring.^[6] Aeschylus uses it for a round shield.^[5] It also meant a crowd, a marketplace, and a sphere or globe.^[1] A sequence of poems was also a “cycle”.^[6]

Latin borrowed it as cyclus.^[1] Modern Greek κύκλος continues the ancient word; its sense “cycle” is a learned semantic loan from French and English cycle.^[7] The American name Ku Klux Klan (1867) was supposedly made from it.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses κύκλα for chariot wheels.^[4][5]
• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for a circle of hunters.^[5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a circle.^[6][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a circular figure.^[6][9]
• 1867 – The name Ku Klux Klan is formed.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A circle, ring.^[5][6]
2. A wheel; any round object, a round shield.^[5][1]
3. A ring of people; a crowd; a marketplace.^[6][1]
4. A circular area; a city wall.^[6][2]
5. A circular motion; a cycle of events.^[6]
6. A sequence of poems, a cycle.^[6]
7. A sphere, globe.^[1]

Word family

• εὔκυκλος (eúkuklos)
• τετράκυκλος (tetrákuklos)
• ὑπόκυκλος (hupókuklos)
• ἡμικύκλιος (hēmikúklios)
• παράκυκλος (parákuklos)

Related words

• Latin cyclus
• English wheel
• English cycle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge