Etymologically
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λάρυγξ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lá.ryŋks/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈla.ryŋks/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈla.ryŋks/[1]

Forms

λᾰ́ρῠγξ (lárunx) m (genitive λᾰ́ρῠγγος or λᾰ́ρῠγος); third declension[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because of its prenasalized suffix -υγγ- (-ung-) and because of the by-form genitive λάρυγος (lárugos) recorded in the Etymologicum Magnum.[2][3][4] It was formerly connected with Latin lurcor (“to devour”) and Middle High German slurc (“throat”),[2][1] and Frisk thought that in that case it must have been reshaped after φάρυγξ (phárunx, “throat”).[2][1] Strömberg explained it as a blend of that word and λαιμός (laimós, “throat”), both attested earlier, but Beekes rejects such random crosses.[2] Babiniotis accepts the blend and rejects the Latin comparison.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 5th century BC, in Euripides' Cyclops and in Aristophanes, of the throat or gullet.[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In the comic poets it is the gullet, especially of gluttons, and poets confused it with φάρυγξ (phárunx).[7][9] Aristotle uses it precisely, for the upper part of the windpipe, which produces the voice, and Galen distinguished it clearly from the pharynx.[7][9] The Septuagint speaks of a sweet throat, meaning pleasant speech, and the Letter to the Romans quotes the Psalms, “their throat is an open grave”.[7][10]

Medieval Greek made a new nominative, Modern Greek λάρυγγας (lárygas), from the accusative,[11] Vlachos records it, and it is the Modern Greek word.[11][12][5] English took larynx from French, through medical Latin, in the 1570s.[13]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Euripides and Pherecrates use it for the throat.[7][6][14]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of the gullet.[7][6][14]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle describes it as the upper part of the windpipe, used in sounding the vowels.[7][14]
  • 1st century AD – The Letter to the Romans quotes the Psalms on the open-grave throat.[10]
  • 2nd century AD – Galen distinguishes it from the pharynx.[9][14]
  • 1570s – English borrows larynx through French.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The larynx, the upper part of the windpipe.[7][8]
  2. The throat or gullet, especially of a glutton.[7][8][9]
  3. (figurative) Speech.[7]

Word family

  • λαρυγγίζω (larungízō)
  • βδελλολάρυγξ (bdellolárunx)
  • φάρυγξ (phárunx)
  • English larynx

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b c d 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
  10. ^ a b 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
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge