Etymologically
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κύλιξ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ký.liks/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈcy.liks/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈcy.liks/[1]

Forms

κῠ́λῐξ (kúlix) f (genitive κῠ́λῐκος); third declension[1] Dative plural κυλίκεσσι (kulíkessi) in the dialects; masculine in one Attic inscription.[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek: the related κυλίσκη (kulískē) and κυλίχνιον (kulíkhnion) show aspiration before a nasal, which is not an Indo-European feature, ⟨-ικ-⟩ is a typical Pre-Greek suffix, and ⟨κυλ-ικ-⟩ a typical Pre-Greek structure.[4][5] PHILOGLOSSA rates this explanation as very reliable.[6] As with many names of cups, a loan is likely.[5]

It looks like Latin calix (“deep bowl, cup”), but an alternation of a and u is unknown in Indo-European words, so the two cannot simply be the same word, and for the same reason it is not identical with κάλυξ (kálux, “seed-vessel, husk”).[5][1] Chantraine, who notes that the Romans thought their word borrowed from Greek, explains the u as an auxiliary vowel and compares the Greek word for a husk and a Sanskrit word for a pot.[7][8] Saalfeld lists the Latin word as a loan from this one.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The lyric poets of the 7th and 6th centuries BC are the first to use it, for a drinking cup: Sappho speaks of wine poured “in golden cups” (χρυσίαισιν ἐν κυλίκεσσιν).[3][8][2]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus, tragedy and comedy it is the wine cup, and by metonymy a cup of wine or wine itself: Sophocles speaks of the “delight of cups”, and Aristophanes of a loving cup.[3][2] Plato mentions a clay cup, and Delian inventories of the 3rd century BC name kinds of cups.[3] Symposium talk gave the phrases “to talk over the cup” and “to push round the cups”, and Herodian calls cup-bearers “those at the cups”.[3] In Cyprus it was the name of the κοτύλη (kotúlē).[3]

Modern Greek has the learned κύλικα (kílika), formed from the accusative, for the shallow, wide, two-handled vase of ancient Greece, used from the early 6th century BC.[10][8] English borrowed it as kylix in 1873.[11]

Timeline

  • 7th–6th century BC – Sappho and Alcaeus use it for a drinking cup.[3][12][8]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus and Sophocles use it for the wine cup.[3][2][12]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes speaks of a loving cup, and Xenophon of pushing round the cups.[3][12]
  • 3rd century BC – Inventories from Delos list kinds of cups.[3]
  • 2nd century AD – Herodian calls the cup-bearers “those at the cups”.[3][12]
  • 1873 – English borrows it as kylix.[11]
  • Modern Greek – The learned κύλικα (kílika) names the ancient vase.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cup, especially a wine cup; by metonymy, a cup of wine, or wine.[3][2]
  2. (Cypriot) The same as the κοτύλη (kotúlē), a cup.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c 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
  6. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  7. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
  8. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge