σκύφος

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /ský.pʰos/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈscy.ɸos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈscy.fos/^[1]

Forms

σκῠ́φος (skúphos) m (genitive σκῠ́φου); second declension^[1] A neuter σκύφος, genitive σκύφεος, occurs in Epicharmus, in papyri and in Euripides' Cyclops, which has both genders.^[2][3] Hesiod's fragments and Anacreon have σκύπφος (skúpphos), with a geminate.^[2][4][3]

Etymology

Beekes finds no etymology and suggests that it may be Pre-Greek.^[5][1] Chantraine notes that names of cups and vessels are often obscure.^[3] It resembles σκάφος (skáphos, “hull, tub”) and σκάφη (skáphē, “tub, trough”), as has been observed since Curtius, but the meanings differ and the vowel is unexplained.^[5][3] Frisk suggests that the ⟨υ⟩ comes from other vessel names, κύτος (kútos), κύπελλον (kúpellon) and κύμβη (kúmbē).^[3][6] Furnée compares κύβος (kúbos), glossed by Hesychius as the Paphian word for a bowl, which could be a Pre-Greek variant.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Odyssey (14.112) uses it for a cup in a rustic setting; there Aristarchus read the masculine accusative σκύφον, and Aristophanes of Byzantium the neuter σκύφος.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In poetry it is a deep cup or bowl, usually belonging to country people.^[4][2] Euripides' Cyclops has one of ivy wood, and Euripides and Theocritus use it as a wooden milking pail.^[4][2] From Aristotle on it is any cup, and inscriptions of the 3rd century BC list skyphoi among temple goods.^[4][2] A magical papyrus may use it for a skull, a sense the diminutive σκυφίον (skuphíon) has in Paul of Aegina.^[2][3]

It passed into Latin as scyphus.^[8] In Modern Greek it is a learned word, used as an archaeological term and in some dialects.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for a cup.^[7][2]
• 7th century BC – Alcman uses it as a masculine noun.^[2][11]
• 6th century BC – Anacreon writes it with ⟨πφ⟩.^[2][4][11]
• 5th century BC – Euripides' Cyclops uses it for a milking pail, in both genders.^[4][3][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it for a wooden milk vessel.^[2][11]
• Modern Greek – The word lives on in dialects and as an archaeological term.^[10][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deep cup or bowl, especially one used by country people; a tankard.^[2][4]
2. A milking pail.^[4][2]
3. A cup in general.^[4]
4. (magical papyri) Perhaps a skull.^[2]

Word family

• σκυφίον (skuphíon)

Related words

• σκάφος (skáphos)
• Latin scyphus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c 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. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge