Etymologically
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ξύω

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /ksy̌ː.ɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈksy.o/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈksy.o/[1]

Forms

ξῡ́ω (xū́ō) [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ksuyō,[1] from the root Proto-Indo-European *kseu- (“to shave, scrape, scratch”).[2][3][1] Beekes notes that no other language has a verb system matching the Greek one exactly.[2] The nearest forms are a nasal present in Sanskrit meaning “to grind, whet”, and Latin novācula (“razor”), which presupposes an old verb *ksnovāre.[2][1] Lithuanian skùsti (“to shave, plane”) may belong here too, if it was somehow remade from *ksu-.[2] Within Greek the verb is close to ξέω (xéō) “to scrape, plane” and ξαίνω (xaínō) “to card wool”.[2][1]

Ancient grammarians already linked it to that verb: Philoxenus (1st century BC) explained ξύω as a by-form of ξέω, as ῥύω (rhúō) stands beside ῥέω (rhéō).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad a goddess puts on a robe that Athena had smoothed by shearing the nap of the cloth.[5] In the Odyssey a floor is scraped clean with rakes.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From scraping and smoothing the verb went on to scratching: the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite speaks of “scraping off” hateful old age, and the comic poet Sophron has the proverb “scratch the one who scratches you”.[5] The middle meant “to scratch oneself”, a pleasure Democritus mentions, and Xenophon uses it for whittling oneself a javelin.[5] Medical writers and Theophrastus used it for shredding or grating a drug into wine, and Hellenistic astronomy for stars that just graze the horizon without setting.[5]

In the Middle Ages the verb lived on, with a form ξυώ, and the medieval participle ξυσμένος is still used.[7] Modern Greek has ξύνω (xýno) “to scratch, scrape, sharpen”, a new present built on the aorist stem ξυσ- that Triantafyllidis dates to Hellenistic Greek.[8][9]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of shearing the nap of a robe, and the Odyssey of scraping a floor.[5][6]
  • 5th century BC – Sophron records the proverb “scratch the one who scratches you”, and Hippocratic writers use it in medicine.[5][10][6]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses the middle for whittling a javelin.[5][10]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle writes of animals that scratch themselves against trees.[5][10]
  • Medieval Greek – The verb survives, with the form ξυώ (xyó) beside it.[7]
  • Modern Greek – ξύνω (xýno) “to scratch, scrape” continues it with a new present.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To scratch or scrape; to scrape clean.[5][2]
  2. (figurative) To scrape off, get rid of (old age); to scour (a coast, of a fisherman).[5]
  3. To shred or grate (a drug into wine).[5]
  4. To shape by whittling, shaving or planing.[5]
  5. To shear the nap of cloth, to smooth it.[5]
  6. (middle) To scratch oneself.[5]

Word family

  • ξύλον (xúlon)
  • ξυστός (xustós)
  • ξύστρα (xústrā)

Usage notes

The proverb “scratch the one who scratches you” (τὸν ξύοντα ἀντιξύειν), from the comic poet Sophron, is the Greek equivalent of “claw me, claw thee”.[5]

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 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. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
  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 g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge