νύξ

Forms

νῠ́ξ (núx) f (genitive νῠκτός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *núks,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”), the old word for “night”, kept in most Indo-European languages.^[1][2] The ⟨υ⟩ in place of ⟨ο⟩ is explained by Cowgill's Law.^[2] Schindler reconstructed a root noun with nominative *nókʷt-s and genitive *nékʷt-s.^[2]

Forms with an aspirate and without ⟨τ⟩, such as νύχα (núkha, “by night”) (Hesychius), ἔννυχος (énnukhos) and νύχιος (núkhios), are found only in Greek and in Anatolian, beside Hittite neku-zi (“to become dark”); following Kloekhorst, Beekes takes both to point to a root *negʷʰ-, lost in Indo-European after Anatolian split off, so that *negʷʰt- was later assimilated to *nekʷt-.^[2][3]

Cognate with Latin nox, Sanskrit नक्त् (nákt), Lithuanian naktìs, Old Church Slavonic нощь (noštĭ), Albanian natë and Old English niht (whence English night).^[1][2]

An ancient grammarian, Philoxenus, quoted in the Etymologicum Magnum, derived it from νύσσω (nússō, “to prick”), as the time that pricks people into sleep.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is night, as opposed to day, with epithets such as “ambrosial” and “deadly” (Iliad 24.363, 16.567);^[5][6] the genitive νυκτός (nuktós) serves as an adverb, “by night” (Odyssey 13.278).^[5]

Semantic evolution

Homer also uses it for a darkness that a god sends to protect a man, and for the night of death; the tragedians use it as a figure for what is dire.^[6] Hesiod and later poets make Night a goddess, the mother of Day, Sun and Sleep, and Hesiod also uses the word for the darkness of the west, where the sun sets.^[6] Among its derivatives is νυκτερίς (nukterís), the bat, found from the Odyssey and Herodotus on.^[7] In the New Testament it is the time between sunset and sunrise, and the period of the night watches.^[8]

Medieval Greek turned the accusative νύκτα (núkta) into Byzantine Greek νύχτα (núkhta), changing the ⟨κτ⟩ cluster to ⟨χτ⟩;^[9] the modern word is Modern Greek νύχτα (nýchta).^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for night and for the darkness of death.^[5][6]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony makes Night a goddess.^[6][10][11]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles has the phrase “neither by night nor by day”.^[5][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the phrase “while it was still night”.^[5][11]
• New Testament – It is the night with its watches.^[8]
• Medieval Greek – The accusative νύκτα becomes νύχτα.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The word is νύχτα.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Night, night-time, as opposed to day; the genitive used as an adverb, “by night”.^[6][5][8]
2. (mythology) Night personified as a goddess, the mother of Day, Sun and Sleep.^[6]
3. A night spent in some activity, on watch or in sleep; a particular night.^[6]
4. Darkness, of the western sky or sent by a god as protection.^[6]
5. (figurative) The darkness of death; anything dire.^[6]

Word family

• νύκτωρ (núktōr)
• νυκτερίς (nukterís)
• νύχιος (núkhios)
• ἔννυχος (énnukhos)

Related words

• Latin nox
• English night

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge