Etymologically
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κύκλος

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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)

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