Etymologically
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σῦκον

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sŷː.kon/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈsy.kon/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈsy.kon/[1]

Forms

σῦκον (sûkon) n (genitive σῡ́κου); second declension[1] Boeotian τῦκον (tûkon).[2][3] Mycenaean su-za, the same as συκέα (sukéa) “fig tree”.[2]

Etymology

Like Latin fīcus and Old Armenian թուզ (tʻuz), it is a borrowing from an unknown Mediterranean or Anatolian language.[2][4] Beekes considers this source Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: the Boeotian form τῦκον (tûkon) beside σῦκον points to an original *tʸuk- with a palatalized initial.[2][5] Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.[6] Martirosyan reconstructs a Mediterranean form *tʰuōiḱo- or *tʰū(i)ḱo-.[1]

The use of the word for the female genitals is a common figurative use of fruit names.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it once, in the Odyssey.[7][3] The fig tree, συκέα (sukéa), is already on the Mycenaean tablets as su-za.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it is the ordinary word for the fig, in Herodotus, comedy and Plato, who speaks of dried figs.[3][8] The “royal figs” were a large kind, and eating figs in the heat of the day was thought to bring on fever.[3] The fruit gave several proverbs: “to ask for figs” meant to live in luxury, “to look for a fig in winter” a foolish enterprise, and “as different as figs from cress” things wholly unlike;[3] Lucian's historian should call a fig a fig, that is, speak plainly.[3] Hesychius explains “to ask for a fig” as “to flatter”.[9]

By its shape the word named a swelling on the eyelid and other growths, in Aristophanes and the Hippocratic writers, and in Aristophanes also the female genitals.[3][8] Theophrastus calls the fruit of the carob the “Egyptian fig”.[3]

In the New Testament figs are not gathered from thistles.[10] The word lives on in Modern Greek σύκο (síko), which keeps the saying about calling a fig a fig and a tub a tub.[11][12] Through Latin it gave the botanical term syconus.[1]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Odyssey mentions figs.[7][3]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the fig.[3][13]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for a swelling of the eyelid and for the female genitals.[3][8][13]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus calls the carob the “Egyptian fig”.[3][13]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of figs not gathered from thistles.[10]
  • 2nd century AD – Lucian says a historian should call a fig a fig.[3][13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fig, the fruit of the fig tree συκῆ (sukê).[3][8]
  2. Αἰγύπτιον σῦκον, the fruit of the carob.[3]
  3. A sty or wart on the eyelid; a similar growth elsewhere.[3][8]
  4. (vulgar) The female genitals.[3][8]

Word family

  • βούσυκον (boúsūkon)
  • συκέα (sūkéā)
  • σύκινος (sū́kinos)
  • συκόμορος (sūkómoros)
  • συκοτράγος (sūkotrágos)
  • συκοφάντης (sūkophántēs)
  • συκόφυλλον (sūkóphullon)
  • συκών (sūkṓn)
  • συκῆ (sūkê)
  • νικύλεον (nikúleon)
  • Latin fīcus
  • English sycamore
  • English sycophant

Usage notes

Hesychius records the proverb “a fig for Hermes”, used of things set out for anyone who wants them, from the custom of offering the first fig to Hermes.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  8. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  9. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
  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. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge