Etymologically
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περκνός

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /per.knós/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /perˈknos/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /perˈknos/[1]

Forms

περκνός (perknós) m (feminine περκνή, neuter περκνόν); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“motley, coloured”), through an older adjective *περκός (*perkós) with the suffix -νός (-nós), an adjective that also underlies πέρκος (pérkos), περκάς (perkás) and the verbs περκάζω (perkázō, “to darken (of ripening grapes)”), περκαίνω (perkaínō) and περκόομαι (perkóomai).[2][1] The gloss πρακνόν (praknón) continues the zero grade *pr̥ḱ-n-.[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit पृश्नि (pṛ́śni-, “spotted, variegated”), Middle Irish erc (“speckled, dark red”), Welsh erch (“speckled”), Old High German forhana (“trout”) and Old High German faro (“coloured”).[2][3][1] Beekes asks whether Latin pulcher (“beautiful”) belongs here too.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Iliad, where an eagle, the μόρφνος, is called a hunter “which they also call περκνός”.[3][4][2] Aristarchus read it as a noun, πέρκνος.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses it as the name of a kind of eagle, which he identifies with the πλάγγος (plángos), and of dark-coloured snakes; the Hippocratic treatise On Head Wounds uses it for a livid colour.[3][5] Later it described grapes and olives darkening as they ripen.[3][4]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept περκνός, with a metathesized form πρεκνός, for a dark complexion.[6]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of a dark eagle.[3][4]
  • 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for livid colour.[3][5]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it as the name of an eagle and of dark snakes.[3][5]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of darkening grape clusters, if the reading is right.[4][7]
  • Middle Ages – Vernacular Greek uses περκνός and πρεκνός for a dark complexion.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Dusky, dark-coloured, perhaps dark-spotted.[3][4][2]
  2. Of grapes and olives, darkening as they ripen.[3][4]
  3. (medicine) Livid.[3]

Noun

  1. A kind of eagle.[3][2]
  • πέρκος (pérkos)
  • περκάζω (perkázō)
  • πρακνόν (praknón)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  7. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge