πυξίς

Forms

πῠξῐ́ς (puxís) f (genitive πῠξῐ́δος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek πύξος (púxos, “box tree, boxwood”) + -ίς (-ís), a box made of boxwood being its first sense.^[1][2][3] Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the tree's name, beside πυξίον (puxíon, “writing tablet”) and the diminutive πυξίδιον (puxídion).^[2]

The name of the tree is found in Mycenaean as Mycenaean Greek pu-ko-so, in a compound.^[2][4] Its origin is unknown.^[3][4] Scardigli derived it from a language of Asia Minor, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow”) (the root of φύω (phúō)), and Carnoy from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”), but Beekes finds both unconvincing:^[2][3] the tree is at home in Italy, not in Asia Minor or Greece, and Beekes counts the word as a loanword from Italy.^[2] Chantraine thinks it probably a borrowing and calls Scardigli's view a mere hypothesis, though no worse than the others.^[4]

The word passed into Latin pyxis, and the tree's name into buxus (“box tree”).^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philo of Byzantium, an engineer of the 3rd–2nd century BC, speaks of medicine boxes.^[6][7] A papyrus of the 3rd–2nd century BC also has the word, and BDAG gives “box made of boxwood” as its first sense.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The name soon covered a box of any material: the Etymologicum Magnum calls it a medicine container, properly one of boxwood, but by extension one of any material, even bronze or lead.^[9][8] Trypho's treatise on tropes, of the 1st century BC, has a bronze one;^[6][10] in the 1st century AD Dioscorides has medicine boxes and Josephus a box of poison.^[6][8] Quintilian cited Latin pyxis as an example of catachresis for this very reason.^[11] The magical papyri use it of a box of lead and of a wooden writing tablet.^[12]

Archaeologists use the word for a round lidded box, usually of pottery, sometimes of wood, alabaster, metal or ivory, used for cosmetics and jewellery; the New Pauly thinks the older Attic name was κυλιχνίς (kulikhnís).^[13] In mechanics Hero of Alexandria called the cylinder in which a piston works a πυξίς, and later doctors named a plaster after it.^[6]

The Modern Greek πυξίδα (pyxída) is a learned revival meaning the magnetic compass, a sense taken from Italian bussola.^[14][15] The 18th-century Κάτοπτρον already explains the mariner's πυξίς by French boussole and Italian bussola.^[16]

Timeline

• 3rd–2nd century BC – Philo of Byzantium writes of medicine boxes.^[6][7]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides and Josephus use it for a box of medicine or of poison.^[6][8][7]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of an ordinary box.^[6][7]
• 12th century AD – Eustathius uses it for a writing tablet.^[6][7]
• Modern Greek – The learned πυξίδα (pyxída) means a magnetic compass.^[14][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A box made of boxwood; generally, any small box, especially for medicine or poison.^[6][8][17]
2. (mechanics) The cylinder in which a piston works.^[6]
3. A writing tablet.^[6][12][18]
4. (medicine) The name of a plaster.^[6]

Word family

• πυξίδιον (puxídion)

Related words

• πύξος (púxos)
• πυξίον (puxíon)
• Latin pyxis
• Latin buxus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Muñoz Delgado, Luis (2001), Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos, Madrid: CSIC
13. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
16. ^ Κάτοπτρον: Ιστορικό λεξικό επιστημονικών όρων (Greek scientific terms 1700–1821)
17. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
18. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius