οὐρά

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /uː.rǎː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /uˈra/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /uˈra/^[1]

Forms

οὐρᾱ́ (ourā́) f (genitive οὐρᾶς); first declension^[1] Ionic οὐρή (ourḗ).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“tail”), through a Greek form *ὀρσά: οὐρά stands beside ὄρρος (órrhos) “rump” as κουρά (kourá) stands beside κόρρη.^[4][5][1] The closest cognate is Old Irish err (“tail”).^[4][5] Reconstructions with *-σι̯- or *-σϝ- are unnecessary.^[5][4] Wiktionary also gives the alternative reconstruction *h₃érsos (“backside”).^[1]

Beekes notes that the derivative οὐραχός (ourakhós) has a suffix that is probably Pre-Greek, and that the stranger οὐρίαχος (ouríakhos) “butt-end of a spear” might even point to a Pre-Greek origin of the word for “tail” itself, unless the two are unrelated.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the tail of a lion lashing its flanks, of a dog wagging its tail, and of the wolves and lions round Circe's house that fawn with their long tails.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod, Herodotus and Aristotle use it for the tails of other animals, though not of birds.^[2] From Xenophon on it is also the rear or rearguard of an army: κατ’ οὐράν “in the rear”, and Polybius speaks of attacking in the rear; in the tactical writers Aelian and Arrian it is the left wing of a phalanx.^[2][3][5] Sophocles used it for the penis, as Hesychius also records from Eupolis.^[2][6]

In the Septuagint “head and tail” stand for the high and the low in society, and in Revelation the locusts have tails like scorpions.^[7][8] Medieval Greek had the forms νουρά, ορά and ούρα, for the tail of animals, birds, fish, insects and snakes and the back of anything.^[9] A separate medieval ουρά, a form of address meaning “lord”, is probably a loan translation of Turkish tuğ, the horse-tail standard of Ottoman officials.^[9] It continues as Modern Greek ουρά (ourá), with phrases such as putting one's tail between one's legs.^[10]

σκίουρος (skíouros), the source of English squirrel, is often explained as “shadow-tail”, from σκιά and οὐρά, but Beekes considers this a folk etymology.^[2][4][11]

Timeline

• Homer – the tails of a lion and a dog.^[2]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of other animals.^[2][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for the rearguard of an army.^[2][3][12]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius has κατ’ οὐρὰν προσπίπτειν, “to attack in the rear”.^[2][12]
• 1st century AD – Revelation: locusts with tails like scorpions.^[8]
• Medieval Greek – νουρά, ορά and ούρα.^[9]
• Modern Greek – ουρά.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The tail of an animal or mythical creature.^[3][2]
2. The rearguard or rear of an army; the rear rank.^[3][2]
3. (tactics) The left wing of a phalanx.^[2]
4. (euphemistic) The penis.^[2][6]
5. (poetic) The echo of a word.^[2]

Word family

• κόλουρος (kólouros)
• οὐραχός (ourakhós)
• οὐροβόρος (ourobóros)
• σκίουρος (skíouros)
• οὐραγός (ouragós)
• οὐραῖος (ouraîos)

Related words

• ὄρρος (órrhos)
• English squirrel

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 m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b 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 Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge