Etymologically
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λέχριος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lé.kʰri.os/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈle.xri.os/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈle.xri.os/[1]

Forms

λέχρῐος (lékhrios) m (feminine λεχρῐ́ᾱ, neuter λέχρῐον); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because its relatives show alternations typical of that language: ε beside ι in λεκροί (lekroí) and λικροί (likroí), Hesychius' words for the branches of a stag's antlers, κ beside χ, and a nasal in the gloss λί(γ)ξ (lí(n)x, “sideways”).[2][3] The Homeric adverb λικριφίς (likriphís, “sideways”) belongs to the same group.[3][4] The Pre-Greek origin is rated highly reliable in the Philoglossa database.[5]

Frisk instead started from a stem in -ρο- of unknown meaning, with a form in -σ- that would also be found in λοξός (loxós, “slanting”).[4][2] Beekes finds it much harder to start from Indo-European forms with and without -σ- side by side than to assume a Pre-Greek word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Sophocles and Euripides in the 5th century BC, mostly with a verb of moving or falling, meaning sideways: Sophocles uses it of crouching down sideways, and Euripides of falling sideways.[6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Sophocles' Antigone it is used figuratively: all the business in hand has gone awry.[6][7] Xenophon uses it in his treatise on hunting of hounds that hold their heads slanting towards the ground.[6][7] Callimachus has a form with two endings, of a sleeper whose head leans to one side.[6][7]

The adverb λέχρις (lékhris, “slantwise”) is found in Antimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes.[4]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it of crouching or falling sideways, and Sophocles' Antigone uses it figuratively of things gone wrong.[6][7][8]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it of hounds' heads slanting towards the ground.[6][7][8]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Callimachus uses it of a head leaning to one side in sleep.[7][6][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Sideways, crosswise, used with verbs of stepping, crouching or falling.[6][7]
  2. Slanting, inclined to one side.[7][6]
  3. (figurative) Gone awry, amiss.[6][7]

Word family

  • λέχρις (lékhris)

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge