στραγγός

Forms

στρᾰγγός (strangós) m (feminine στρᾰγγή, neuter στρᾰγγόν); first/second declension^[1] Also written στραγός in Hesychius, Photius and the Suda, and στραγκός in a manuscript of Soranus.^[2] Comparative στραγγότερος or στραγγώτερος, adverb στραγγῶς.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek στράγξ (stránx, “a drop squeezed out”).^[4][5][6][1] That noun is formed like στρίγξ (strínx) and λύγξ (lúnx).^[4][5]

Its further origin is disputed.^[4][5] Cognates are often seen in Latin stringō (“to draw tight”), Latvian stringt (“to become stiff, wither”), Middle Irish srengim (“I draw, drag”), Old Norse strangr (“hard, rigid”), Old High German strengi (“stretched, stiff”) and the English word string, from a root Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“to twist, string”).^[4][5][7][8] Chantraine explains the stem στραγγ- (strang-) as the zero grade Proto-Indo-European *strn̥g-, with the nasal added again (the spelling στραγός (stragós) lacks it), or as a popular vocalism, as befits a family of technical and familiar words.^[5] Beekes notes that this derivation needs several analogies and is not evident in meaning, and thinks it not improbable that the word is Pre-Greek: the variants without a nasal may point to prenasalization.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the medical writers of the 1st–2nd century AD: Rufus, quoted by Oribasius, calls fevers “irregular” with it, and Soranus uses it of a cleansing that flows drop by drop.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The starting point is the dripping of στράγξ (stránx), “a drop squeezed out”; from “flowing drop by drop” medical writers moved to “complicated, irregular”, and in a comparative Cassius the Iatrosophist calls some eye ailments more serious.^[2][5] The lexicographers gloss it “twisted, crooked” and “disorderly”, and Photius and the Suda also “shameless”: Chantraine understands this as “tortuous, dishonest”.^{[2][10][5][11]}

The same family has στραγγουρία (strangouríā), painful urination in drops, from Hippocrates on, and στραγγεύομαι (strangeúomai) “to dawdle, hesitate”, in Aristophanes and Plato, which Chantraine derives from the idea of going drop by drop.^[4][5] The noun στραγγάλη (strangálē) “cord, noose” and its verbs were the source of Latin strangulō.^[8]

Timeline

• 1st–2nd century AD – Rufus uses it of irregular fevers, and Soranus of a flow drop by drop.^[2][9]
• 2nd century AD – Antyllus uses its comparative, “trickling more”.^[2][9]
• 4th century AD – Oribasius preserves these medical passages in his collections.^[2][9]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as “twisted” and “disorderly”.^[10][2][9]
• 9th century AD – Photius explains the spelling στραγός as “shameless”.^[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (medicine) Flowing drop by drop, trickling.^[2][4][5]
2. (medicine) Complicated, irregular, of fevers; in the comparative, more serious, of eye diseases.^[2][12]
3. Twisted, crooked.^[2][10][11]
4. Shameless.^[2][11]

Related words

• στράγξ (stránx)
• στραγγίζω (strangízō)
• στραγγουρία (strangouríā)
• στραγγεύομαι (strangeúomai)
• στραγγάλη (strangálē)
• στρογγύλος (strongúlos)
• Latin strangulō

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. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
9. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
11. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
12. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος