πίθηκος

Forms

πῐ́θηκος (píthēkos) m (genitive πῐθήκου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it a loanword from an unknown language, perhaps Pre-Greek.^[2][3] Its suffix in a voiceless velar is also found in other animal names, such as ἱέραξ (hiérax, “falcon”) and μύρμηξ (múrmēx, “ant”), and in the thematic form of ψιττακός (psittakós, “parrot”).^[2][4][5] Solmsen's old comparison with Latin foedus (“ugly”), which rested only on the use of καλλίας (kallías) (“pretty one”) as a euphemism for the ape, is rejected by Chantraine and Babiniotis, and Frisk too prefers a loan.^[4][5][6] Doric and Egyptian inscriptions have πίθακος (píthakos).^[4][5]

Ancient writers explained the name in other ways: Philoxenus derived it from the verb “to persuade”, because the ugly animal still wins people's attention, and Orion from its imitating human behaviour in everything.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Archilochus and Semonides in the 7th century BC, meaning an ape or monkey.^[6][8][9] The animal in question was usually the Barbary ape, a byword for ugliness and trickery.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Attic comedy the word became a nickname for a trickster or flatterer, a “jackanapes”: Aristophanes uses it of rogues, and Demosthenes calls Aeschines a “tragic ape”.^[8][10] Plato has the proverb of becoming “an ape instead of a lion”, of a man degraded, and Lucian speaks of hiding an ape under a lion's skin.^[8] Aristotle describes the animal in his zoology, and Theophrastus and Plutarch mention apes kept as pets.^[8][10] The Septuagint has it in 2 Chronicles 9:21.^[11]

The Doric form πίθακος still survives in Modern Greek dialects.^[12] Standard Modern Greek πίθηκος (píthikos) is a learned word from the ancient one.^[13][6] In English, the word-forming element pitheco- (“ape”) comes from it.^[14]

Timeline

• 7th century BC – Archilochus and Semonides first use the word for the ape.^[6][8][9]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus has the compound πιθηκοφαγέω (pithēkophagéō), “to eat ape meat”.^[4][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it as a nickname for a trickster.^[8][10][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the ape in his zoology, and Demosthenes calls Aeschines a “tragic ape”.^[8][9]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian has the proverb of an ape hidden under a lion's skin.^[8][9]
• Modern Greek – The word survives as a learned word for the ape, while the Doric form lives on in dialects.^[13][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ape or monkey, usually the Barbary ape; occasionally feminine, of a she-ape.^[8][10]
2. (figurative) A trickster, a flatterer, a jackanapes.^[8][10]

Word family

• δημοπίθηκος (dēmopíthēkos)
• πιθηκίζω (pithēkízō)
• πιθηκοφαγέω (pithēkophagéō)
• κερκοπίθηκος (kerkopíthēkos)
• πιθήκιον (pithḗkion)
• πιθηκοειδής (pithēkoeidḗs)
• πιθηκώδης (pithēkṓdēs)
• τριπιθήκινος (tripithḗkinos)
• χοιροπίθηκος (khoiropíthēkos)

Usage notes

Plato has the proverb “to become an ape instead of a lion”.^[8] Diogenianus explains “an ape in purple” as borrowed finery.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com