Etymologically
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λαγώς

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /la.ɡɔ̌ːs/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /laˈɣos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /laˈɣos/[1]

Forms

λᾰγώς (lagṓs) m (genitive λᾰγώ); second declension[1] Epic and Aristotelian λαγωός (lagōós),[2] Ionic, Doric and in tragedy and comedy λαγός (lagós).[2][3]

Etymology

It is traditionally analysed as a compound meaning “with flabby ears”, from Ancient Greek *λαγο- (*lago-, “slack”) + οὖς (oûs, “ear”), an adjective of the bahuvrihi type; the first part is the stem of λαγαρός (lagarós, “slack”).[4][3][1] The Homeric λαγωός (lagōós) is the older form, and the Attic form came from it by contraction, while the Ionic λαγός (lagós) follows the ordinary second declension.[4][3] Szemerényi argued that the compound was rather *λαγωϝής (*lagōwḗs), which can be restored in Homer and could have given the Attic form.[4][3]

Names of the hare as “long-ear” are found elsewhere too, as in Ossetian тӕрхъус (tærqus) and a Persian word meaning “donkey-ear”.[4][3][1] It was probably a taboo word of hunters' language, because the animal could bring bad luck.[4][3]

Ancient grammarians explained it as an intensive λα- (la-) with the Doric word for “ear”, the animal with big ears.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it as λαγωός (lagōós), the hare, hunted by hounds in the Iliad.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The hare stood for the coward: a man was called a hare, Demosthenes reproaches an opponent with living a hare's life, in fear and trembling, and a proverb spoke of someone more cowardly than a Phrygian hare.[2][7] Other proverbs said “a sleeping hare” of people feigning sleep and “the hare runs for its flesh” of those fleeing a death close at hand.[2]

The name was also given to a bird with feathered feet, to the sea hare, a sea slug, to a constellation and to a kind of bandage.[2][4][3]

Medieval Greek remade the Attic word as Modern Greek λαγός (lagós), the Modern Greek word for the hare, unless that continues the old Ionic λαγός directly; the diminutive λαγουδάκι comes from it.[8][9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use λαγωός (lagōós) for the hare.[2][6]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus has the Attic form in the Eumenides.[6][2][10]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the Ionic λαγός (lagós).[2][10]
  • 4th century BC – Demosthenes reproaches an opponent with living a hare's life.[2][7][10]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Aratus names a constellation the Hare.[2][10]
  • Medieval Greek – The form λαγός (lagós) prevails, and survives in Modern Greek.[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hare.[2][7]
  2. (figurative) A coward.[2][7]
  3. A bird with rough, feathered feet.[2]
  4. The sea hare, a sea slug.[2][3]
  5. (astronomy) The constellation of the Hare.[2]
  6. (medicine) A kind of bandage.[2][3]

Word family

  • λάγινος (láginos)
  • λαγωβόλον (lagōbólon)
  • λαγώπους (lagṓpous)
  • λαγαρός (lagarós)
  • οὖς (oûs)

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 m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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
  5. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
  6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge