σκόμβρος

Forms

σκόμβρος (skómbros) m (genitive σκόμβρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unclear.^[2] Beekes, following Furnée, thinks it may well be Pre-Greek.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest record is in Epicharmus, meaning the mackerel.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Hermippus and Aristophanes mention mackerel caught in the Hellespont, and Aristotle mentions it.^[3][4] A papyrus of the Zenon archive in the 3rd century BC mentions it.^[3]

Latin borrowed it as scomber.^[2][5] Medieval Greek formed the diminutive σκουμπρίον (skoumbríon), with /o/ raised to /u/ next to the /k/ and the labial /mb/, which gave Modern Greek σκουμπρί (skoumbrí), “mackerel”.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Epicharmus names the mackerel, and Hermippus mentions mackerel from the Hellespont.^[2][3][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it in the Knights.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle mentions it in the History of Animals.^[3]
• 3rd century BC – A papyrus of the Zenon archive records it.^[3]
• Modern Greek – σκουμπρί (skoumbrí), from a medieval diminutive, names the mackerel.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mackerel, Scomber scomber.^[3][4]

Related words

• Latin scomber

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 e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
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