κώνωψ

Forms

κώνωψ (kṓnōps) m (genitive κώνωπος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because it has no good etymology and the suffix -ωψ (-ōps) is frequent in Pre-Greek words.^[2][3] The old analysis as κῶνος (kônos, “cone”) and ὤψ (ṓps, “face”), perhaps because of the insect's sting, fits neither the sense nor the form.^[2][4][5] Spiegelberg derived it from an Egyptian word for the gnat, with its shape adapted to the word for “cone”.^[2][4] Chantraine reports this view, and Wiktionary also compares Egyptian names of stinging insects.^[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aeschylus' Agamemnon and in Herodotus, meaning a gnat or mosquito.^[6][7][8] Herodotus uses it of the Egyptian mosquitoes against which people slept under nets.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Classical and Hellenistic writers used it for the gnat or mosquito; it was not always kept apart from ἐμπίς (empís), and it was sometimes used of the vinegar fly.^[4] Aristotle also seems to use the word for a small worm that breeds in wine.^[9] In the New Testament Jesus accuses the Pharisees of straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel.^[9][7]

The diminutive κωνώπιον (kōnṓpion) came to mean a bed hung with a mosquito net, as in the Septuagint.^[4][5] Through Latin cōnōpēum (“mosquito curtain”) and Old French conope (“bed-curtain”), this derivative, not κώνωψ itself, gave the English word canopy, first recorded in the late 14th century.^[10] Medieval vernacular Greek had κουνούπιον (kounoúpion) and κούνουπας (koúnoupas).^[11] The diminutive survives as Modern Greek κουνούπι (kounoúpi), “mosquito”.^[12][4]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Aeschylus and Herodotus use it of the gnat or mosquito.^[6][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes quotes an oracle that mentions it.^[6][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the insect in his zoological works.^[6][8]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Matthew uses it in the saying about straining out a gnat.^[9]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses the diminutive κωνώπιον (kōnṓpion).^[4][5]
• Late 14th century – English borrows canopy, which goes back to the diminutive's sense “bed with a mosquito net”.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The diminutive survives as Modern Greek κουνούπι (kounoúpi).^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gnat or mosquito.^[6][7]
2. A small worm found in wine, perhaps in Aristotle.^[9]

Related words

• κωνώπιον (kōnṓpion)
• English canopy

Usage notes

The gnat was a byword for smallness: a saying advises behaving neither like a lion nor like a gnat.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki