συκόμορος

Forms

σῡκόμορος (sūkómoros) f (genitive σῡκομόρου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) + μόρον (móron, “mulberry”).^[1][2][3] LSJ compares Hebrew Biblical Hebrew שִׁקְמָה (šiqmā), the name of the tree,^[4] and Etymonline reports the view that the Greek name is more likely a reshaping of that Hebrew word by folk etymology.^[5] The related συκάμινος (sukáminos) is probably a loan from the Semitic word, according to Rosół.^[6]

Both parts are themselves of foreign or unclear origin: Beekes takes σῦκον (sûkon) to be a loanword from a Mediterranean or Anatolian source, perhaps Pre-Greek,^[3] and leaves the origin of μόρον (móron) open.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

GLAUx finds it first in Strabo (1st century BC to 1st century AD), meaning the sycamore fig of Egypt.^[7][8] LSJ's earliest citation is from the Latin medical writer Celsus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The name belonged to the Egyptian fig tree that bears its fruit on the trunk.^[9][4] Theophrastus calls the same tree the “Egyptian mulberry”.^[4]

In Luke's gospel the tree that Zacchaeus climbs is a συκομορέα (sukomoréa), a by-form of this word, while the συκάμινος (sukáminos) of Luke 17:6 is the black mulberry, which BDAG and Abbott-Smith think Luke kept distinct.^[10][11] Galen and the Church Fathers Eusebius and Theodoret use the word for the tree.^[12]

Latin borrowed it as sycomorus, and English sycamore (mid-14th century) comes from it through Old French; it was first a Biblical name for the fig tree.^[5]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus calls the same tree the “Egyptian mulberry”.^[4][8]
• 1st century BC to 1st century AD – Strabo uses συκόμορος of the Egyptian fig tree.^[7][8]
• 1st century AD – Luke's gospel uses the by-form συκομορέα for the tree that Zacchaeus climbs.^[10][11]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it in a pharmacological work.^[7][12]
• Mid-14th century – English borrows it through Old French as sicamour, later sycamore.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus), the fig-mulberry tree of Egypt and the Levant.^[4][9][12]

Related words

• σῦκον (sûkon)
• μόρον (móron)
• συκάμινος (sukáminos)
• συκομορέα (sukomoréa)
• Latin sycomorus
• English sycamore

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
9. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
10. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
11. ^ a b Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
12. ^ a b c Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica