Etymologically
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λύκος

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /lý.kos/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈly.kos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈly.kos/[1]

Forms

λῠ́κος (lúkos) m (genitive λῠ́κου); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *lúkos,[1] probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”), the widespread Indo-European name of the wolf.[2][1] The Greek form only fits that word if the first two sounds changed places (metathesis), the same difficulty that Latin lupus presents.[2][1] Beekes notes that a form matching λύκος exactly, Indo-European *luko-, is found only in the North Germanic name of the lynx, but he prefers the link with the wolf.[2] Taboo, which often distorts the names of feared animals, may explain the irregularity.[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit वृक (vṛ́ka-), Lithuanian vil̃kas, Old Church Slavonic влькъ (vlĭkŭ), Gothic 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐍃 (wulfs) and Albanian ulk, all meaning “wolf”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning a wolf.[2][3][4] Homer calls wolves grey, flesh-eating and strong-clawed, and the CGL notes that the animal is the usual example of a savage predator.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The wolf gave Greek several proverbs: to “see a wolf” was to be struck dumb, as people believed happened to anyone a wolf saw first;[3][5] to “live a wolf's life” was to live by banditry and plunder;[5] to “take a wolf by the ears” was to be foolhardy;[5] and “the open-mouthed wolf” was said of someone cheated of his hopes.[5]

By resemblance the word named a kind of jackdaw, a fish, and hook-shaped things such as a hook or sting.[2] In the New Testament the wolf is the predator set against the sheep, and also an image of fierce and dangerous people.[6]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the word with its ancient sense.[7] It survives as Modern Greek λύκος (lýkos); as a learned word it also names the hammer of old firearms, a sense taken from French.[8]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the wolf.[3][4]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus describes small Egyptian “wolves”, which LSJ takes to be perhaps jackals.[3][9]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato alludes to the belief that a wolf's look strikes a person dumb.[3][5][9]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a kind of jackdaw.[2][9]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the phrase “to live a wolf's life” of banditry.[5][9]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospels set wolves against sheep as an image of danger to the faithful.[6]
  • 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for a hook.[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wolf.[3][5]
  2. (figurative) A fierce or dangerous person; in the New Testament, a false teacher who preys on the flock.[6]
  3. A kind of jackdaw.[2][3]
  4. A kind of fish.[2][3]
  5. Something hook-shaped: a hook or sting.[2]

Word family

  • λύκαινα (lúkaina)
  • λυκέη (lukéē)
  • λύκειος (lúkeios)
  • λυκιδεύς (lukideús)
  • λυκοκτόνος (lukoktónos)
  • μονόλυκος (monólukos)
  • λυκάγχη (lukánkhē)
  • λυκανθρωπία (lukanthrōpía)
  • λυκάνθρωπος (lukánthrōpos)
  • λυκαυγής (lukaugḗs)
  • λύκιον (lúkion)
  • λύσσα (lússa)
  • Latin lupus

References

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