σκῦτος

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /skŷː.tos/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈscy.tos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈscy.tos/^[1]

Forms

σκῦτος (skûtos) n (genitive σκῡ́τεος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₁u-t-, probably related to the Indo-European word for skin, Proto-Indo-European *keh₁u-ti-.^[2] Cognate with Old High German hūt (“skin”) and Latin cutis (“skin”), with a zero grade, and with the full grade in Old Prussian keuto (“skin”) and Lithuanian kiáutas (“case, shell”).^[2][1][3] These words lack the initial s-, which Beekes thinks Greek may share with a Brittonic word for “shoe”.^[2][4] Wiktionary derives the group from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”); the same root may be in ἐπισκύνιον (episkúnion, “skin of the brows”) and κύτος (kútos, “hollow, vessel”).^[1][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Odyssey (14.34) it is a piece of leather.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It meant a skin or hide, especially one dressed or tanned, and in Attic often shoe leather, and Aristophanes makes jokes about the tanner Cleon with it.^[7][9] It also meant a leather thong or whip (Demosthenes, Plutarch), and “to look whips” (σκύτη βλέπειν) was to look like someone who expects a beating.^[7][9]

From it come σκυτοτόμος (skūtotómos, “leather-cutter, shoemaker”), already in the Iliad, σκυτεύς (skuteús, “shoemaker”) and σκύτινος (skū́tinos, “leathern”).^[3][4] Medieval Greek had it as a masculine, σκύτος, and Modern Greek σκύτος (skítos) is used today as a technical term for tanned hide.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for a piece of leather.^[6][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for tanned hide and whips.^[7][9][12]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for a whip.^[7][9][12]
• Modern Greek – It is used as Modern Greek σκύτος (skítos), a technical term.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A skin or hide, especially dressed or tanned; leather.^[7][9]
2. A leather thong, whip.^[7][9]

Word family

• σκύτινος (skū́tinos)
• σκυτοτόμος (skūtotómos)
• σκυτεύς (skuteús)

Usage notes

The comic phrase σκύτη βλέπειν, in Eupolis and Aristophanes' Wasps, meant to look like a whipped cur.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b 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 Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge