κῆρυξ

Forms

κῆρῠξ (kêrux) m (genitive κήρῡκος); third declension^[1] Doric and Aeolic κᾱ́ρυξ.^[2][3] Mycenaean Greek ka-ru-ke, dative singular.^[4][2]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.^[2][1] The word has long been compared with Sanskrit कारु (kārú, “singer, poet”), with an expressive suffix -κ-,^[5][4] and Chantraine and Frisk still accept that link.^[4][5] Beekes rejects it: Greek has no such enlarging suffix, the comparison does not account for the long /uː/ of the stem, and the nouns in ⟨-ῡκ-⟩ are of very different meanings and probably not Indo-European.^[2][1] He adds that the Doric gloss κορύγης (korúgēs) “herald” in Hesychius fits a Pre-Greek word, with the variation of /a/ and /o/ before /u/ that such words show.^[2]

The verb κηρύσσω (kērū́ssō) “to proclaim” is derived from the noun.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets already have the word, in the dative singular.^[4][2] In Homer the herald is a public messenger and envoy, called “dear to Zeus” and “messenger of Zeus and of men”, and also a nobleman's attendant who helps to prepare meals.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod calls Hermes the herald of the gods.^[3][6] In Classical Athens the herald was the crier who summoned and kept order in the assembly and made proclamations; heralds were distinguished from ambassadors as the messengers who could pass between nations at war, and the herald of the initiates served at Eleusis.^[3][4] He also cried goods for sale, so that “to sell under the herald” meant to sell at auction.^[3][4] Poets used the word of anything that announces, such as the cock that heralds the dawn in Aristophanes.^[6][3] In Aristotle and the medical writers it is also a sea snail, the trumpet-shell.^[3][2]

The herald's staff, κηρύκειον (kērū́keion), was borrowed into Latin as cādūceus.^[2][5] In the New Testament the word is used of a preacher of the gospel.^[7] Modern Greek has it as a learned word, Modern Greek κήρυκας (kírikas), for a herald or messenger and for an advocate of an idea, the last sense modelled on French héraut.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Mycenaean period – The Linear B tablets record a dative singular.^[4][2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for heralds and envoys.^[3][10]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod calls Hermes the herald of the gods.^[3][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes has the herald of the Athenian assembly, and uses the word of the cock.^[3][11]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the trumpet-shell.^[3][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus speaks of selling “under the herald”, at auction.^[3][11]
• New Testament – It is used of a preacher.^[7]
• Modern Greek – It survives as the learned word κήρυκας, also for a champion of an idea, after French héraut.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A herald or official messenger; an envoy, especially between peoples at war.^[3][6]
2. A messenger of the gods, especially Hermes.^[3][6]
3. A public crier who summoned and kept order in assemblies and made proclamations.^[3]
4. An auctioneer.^[3]
5. (figurative) Anything that announces, such as the cock at dawn.^[3][6]
6. (New Testament) A preacher, one who proclaims the gospel.^[7]
7. The trumpet-shell, a sea snail.^[3][2]

Word family

• δρομοκῆρυξ (dromokêrux)
• ἱεροκῆρυξ (hierokêrux)
• κήρυγμα (kḗrūgma)
• κηρύσσω (kērū́ssō)
• ψευδοκῆρυξ (pseudokêrux)
• κηρύκειον (kērū́keion)
• κηρύκειος (kērū́keios)

Related words

• Latin cādūceus

Usage notes

The feminine κηρύκαινα (kērúkaina) “heraldess” is a one-off coinage in Aristophanes; there was no usual feminine.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge