σηρικός

Forms

σηρῐκός (sērikós) m (feminine σηρῐκή, neuter σηρῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek Σήρ (Sḗr) + -ικός (-ikós), from the name of the Seres, a people of the Far East, probably the Chinese, from whom silk came.^[2][3][4] The name of the Seres is of unclear origin.^[2][3] Frisk thinks it is ultimately from the Chinese word for silk, and Wiktionary gives Old Chinese 絲 (*sə, “silk”) as a possible source.^[2][1][5] The noun σήρ (sḗr) “silkworm” is a back-formation from the people's name.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Strabo quotes Nearchus using the plural noun for silks, and the adjective is found from the 1st century AD on, in Josephus and Plutarch.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Spicq notes that the word does not appear before the time of Augustus, and Josephus describes Vespasian and Titus at their triumph dressed in silk.^[4][7] Lucian, Plutarch and Dio Cassius use it of silken clothes and hangings, and Galen of silk thread.^[6] In Revelation the neuter σηρικόν, silk, is among the cargoes the merchants mourn at the fall of Babylon.^[6][4] Galen also uses the plural for jujubes, and the alchemists the neuter for a red pigment.^[6]

It was borrowed as Latin sēricus, whose feminine was the source of Old French sarge and of the English serge.^[1][8][3] Medieval Greek kept it for silken things, and it lives on in Modern Greek, where learned compounds were formed from the same stem in the 19th century.^[9][5]

Timeline

• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo quotes Nearchus using the plural noun for silks.^[6]
• 1st century AD – Josephus uses it of the silk robes of Vespasian and Titus.^[4][7]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of silken fabrics, and Revelation lists silk among the merchants' cargoes.^[6][4]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of a silken dress, and Galen of silk thread and of jujubes.^[6]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of silken garments.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the Seres; silken, made of silk.^[6][10]

Noun

1. A silk garment, silk cloth.^[6][4]
2. In the plural, jujubes.^[6]
3. A red pigment, in the alchemists.^[6]

Related words

• Σήρ (Sḗr)
• σήρ (sḗr)
• Latin sēricus
• English serge

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press