πελεκάν

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pe.le.kán/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /pe.leˈkan/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /pe.leˈkan/^[1]

Forms

πελεκᾰ́ν (pelekán) m (genitive πελεκᾶνος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from πέλεκυς (pélekus, “axe”), because the bird's bill resembles an axe in shape or use.^[2][3][1] The suffix -άν is that of ethnic names such as Ἀκαρνάν, and Beekes counts it among the Pre-Greek suffixes.^[2][3][4] Furnée compared Hesychius' σπέλεκτος “pelican”.^[2][4]

The same base gave other bird names: πελεκᾶς (pelekâs, “green woodpecker”) and πελεκῖνος (pelekînos, “pelican”), both in Aristophanes.^[2][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in the comic poet Anaxandrides.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle describes the pelican, and Antoninus Liberalis and Aelian mention it later.^[5][6] Medieval Greek also has πελεκάνος, which is already late antique and is the Modern Greek form.^[7] The Physiologus calls the pelican a bird that loves its young and takes it as an image of Christ.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes has πελεκᾶς and πελεκῖνος.^[2][8]
• 4th century BC – Anaxandrides and Aristotle use πελεκάν.^[5][8]
• Medieval Greek – the Physiologus makes the pelican an image of Christ.^[7]
• Modern Greek – πελεκάνος.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pelican, Pelecanus onocrotalus.^[5][6]

Related words

• πέλεκυς (pélekus)
• πελεκῖνος (pelekînos)
• English pelican

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
7. ^ a b c d Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge