λύγξ

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /lýŋks/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈlyŋks/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈlyŋks/^[1]

Forms

λῠ́γξ (lúnx) m or f (genitive λῠγκός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an old name of the lynx, also found in Armenian, Germanic and Balto-Slavic.^[2][3] Apart from the nasal it matches the Lithuanian consonant stem seen in the genitive plural lūšų, beside the newer Lithuanian lūšis; other languages remade it with a thematic vowel (Swedish lo), with an s-suffix (Old High German luhs, Old English lox) or with an n-suffix (Old Armenian լուսանունք (lusanunkʻ, “lynxes”)), which presupposes an old full grade *leuḱ-.^[2][3][1]

Beekes, following Furnée, concludes that the word is not Indo-European: a link with the root *leuk- “to see, shine”, as if the animal were named for its sharp sight, cannot explain the long ū of Balto-Slavic, the n of Armenian or the g of Greek λύγγιος (lúngios), and he takes it as a loan from a European substrate language.^[2][4] Wiktionary instead reconstructs *lúnks and *lú(n)ḱs (“lynx”), a nasal-infixed form of Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“white, light, bright”), after the cat's glowing eyes.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Homeric Hymns and in Euripides, who speaks of “dappled lynxes”.^[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

Xenophon, Aristotle and Theophrastus mention the animal.^[5][6] Aelian and Oppian also use the word for the caracal, and Galen for a kind of ape.^[5][7][6] From the personal name Λυγκεύς (Lunkeús) came λυγκεύς, the name of an eye-salve.^[2] λυγγούριον (lungoúrion) was a kind of amber (Theophrastus).^[2]

It was borrowed as Latin lynx, the source of the word in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and English.^[1][4]

Timeline

• Homeric Hymns – the lynx.^[5][2]
• 5th century BC – Euripides' “dappled lynxes”.^[5][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the lynx.^[5][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus names the amber λυγγούριον.^[2][8]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a kind of ape.^[7][8]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it for the caracal.^[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The lynx.^[5][6]
2. The caracal.^[5]
3. (Galen) A kind of ape.^[7]

Word family

• λύγγιος (lúngios)
• λυγγούριον (lungoúrion)

Related words

• Latin lynx
• English lynx

Usage notes

A different word λύγξ, genitive λυγγός, means “hiccup” (Hippocrates, Plato) and, in Thucydides, ineffectual retching; it belongs with λύζω (lúzō) “to hiccup”.^[5][6][7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d Montanari, Franco (2015), The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge