σκίουρος

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /skí.uː.ros/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈsci.u.ros/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈsci.u.ros/^[1]

Forms

σκῐ́ουρος (skíouros) m (genitive σκῐούρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is traditionally explained as a bahuvrihi compound, from Ancient Greek σκιά (skiá, “shade”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”), “the one that shades itself with its tail”.^[2][3][4] Beekes considers this a folk etymology rather than a real explanation: the ending -ουρος may be a Pre-Greek suffix.^[5][1]

It was borrowed into Medieval Latin as *scuriolus, the source of French écureuil and English squirrel.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Oppian's Cynegetica.^[3] Pliny mentions the animal in Latin.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Modern Greek has the learned σκίουρος (skíuros) for the squirrel, which is also called βερβερίτσα.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 3rd century AD – Oppian's Cynegetica mentions the squirrel.^[3][7]
• Modern Greek – σκίουρος (learned).^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A squirrel.^[3][5]

Related words

• σκιά (skiá)
• οὐρά (ourá)
• English squirrel

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge