Etymologically
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λοξός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lok.sós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /lokˈsos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /lokˈsos/[1]

Forms

λοξός (loxós) m (feminine λοξή, neuter λοξόν); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] It has the suffix -σός (-sós) of several adjectives with a similar meaning, such as γαυσός (gausós, “crooked”), καμψός (kampsós), φοξός (phoxós) and ῥυσός (rhusós).[2][3] A connection with λέχριος (lékhrios, “slanting”) seems probable, but no reconstruction can be made, and its o points to a noun as the base.[2][3] Words for the elbow such as Lithuanian alkúnė (“elbow”) begin with a vowel and should be kept apart, as Beekes holds,[2] and Chantraine also finds the comparison doubtful.[2][3] Celticists relate it to Proto-Celtic *loskos (“crippled”), and Pokorny derives it from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l- (“to bow”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tyrtaeus, in the 7th century BC, uses it of a neck turned aside: Zeus has not yet turned his neck away, that is, withdrawn his favour.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Theognis a slave holding his neck aslant is a picture of dishonesty, and Solon and Anacreon speak of looking “aslant” at someone from suspicion, anger or disdain.[4][5] From the oracular god's ambiguous answers Apollo was called Λοξίας (Loxías), and the word itself came to mean “ambiguous”.[3][2]

In science it became a technical term: Aristotle calls the ecliptic the oblique circle, and the movement of the stars oblique; the tacticians speak of an oblique phalanx, with one wing in advance of the other, and Galen of the oblique abdominal muscles.[4][5]

The word lives on in Modern Greek λοξός (loxós), “slanting”, and, figuratively, “eccentric, odd”; from it come λόξα (lóxa, “craze, eccentricity”) and λοξοδρομώ (loxodromó).[7][8][6]

Timeline

  • 7th century BC – Tyrtaeus uses it of a neck turned aside.[4][6][9]
  • 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of a slave's slanting neck, as a sign of dishonesty.[4][5][9]
  • 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers use it of oblique bandaging.[4][10][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle calls the ecliptic the oblique circle.[4][5][9]
  • 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it of sidelong glances.[4][5][9]
  • Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek λοξός (loxós), also meaning “eccentric”.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Slanting, oblique, crosswise.[4][5]
  2. Of the neck, turned aside; of looks, sidelong, askance, from anger, disdain or shyness.[4][5]
  3. (figurative) Mistrustful; ambiguous.[4][2]
  4. (astronomy) Of the sun's course, oblique, on the ecliptic.[5][4]
  5. (military) Of a phalanx, deployed at an angle.[5][4]
  6. Of a snake, coiled.[5]

Word family

  • λόξωσις (lóxōsis)
  • λοξόω (loxóō)
  • λοξότης (loxótēs)
  • λέχριος (lékhrios)
  • Λοξίας (Loxías)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux