σῦριγξ

Forms

σῦρῐγξ (sûrinx) f (genitive σῡ́ρῐγγος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, a substrate word, because of the non-Indo-European suffix ⟨-ιγγ-⟩.^[2][3][1] Frisk notes that it is formed like σάλπιγξ (sálpinx, “trumpet”) and φόρμιγξ (phórminx, “lyre”), which suggests a Mediterranean or Oriental origin.^[4] Scarborough's database rates the Pre-Greek origin as very reliable.^[5]

Beekes rejects Solmsen's Indo-European explanation, a derivative of a noun related to the Sanskrit words for “quiver” and “flute”, and Greppin's Indo-European origin.^[2][4] An Armenian word for “flute, pipe” was probably taken from the same source, or from Greek.^[2][5] Rosół lists the comparison with a Hebrew root meaning “to hiss, whistle” among the rejected Semitic etymologies.^[6] A Sanskrit word for “underground passage” was borrowed from the Greek word.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is a pipe: the Iliad names the sound of pipes beside that of the aulos, and shows herdsmen delighting in their pipes (18.526).^[7][8] In the Iliad (19.387) it is also the case from which a spear is drawn.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

The pipe remained the instrument of herdsmen: Plato says the countryside would have the pipe for its shepherds.^[8] From its sound the word came to mean a whistle or catcall of derision in the theatre.^[8][9] Strabo says that the last part of the Pythian nome was called the “pipes”, and LSJ explains this as an imitation of the dying hisses of the serpent Pytho.^[8] Plutarch uses it for the mouthpiece of the aulos.^[8]

Anything tube-shaped could bear the name: Parmenides uses it for a socket, Empedocles and Sophocles for a duct in the body, Apollonius Rhodius for a vein, the tragedians for the hub of a chariot wheel, and medical writers for the windpipe, a blood vessel and a fistula.^[9][2] Polybius uses it for an underground passage and a covered gallery.^[9][2]

Latin borrowed it as syrinx, and Late Latin syringa, from the Greek accusative, gave English syringe, first recorded in medicine for a tube that draws up and squirts liquid.^[10][1] English also took syrinx for the ancient instrument and later for the vocal organ of birds.^[10] Coptic borrowed the word as well.^[11] Modern Greek σύριγγα (síringa) is a learned word for the panpipe, and in the sense “syringe” it follows French seringue.^[12][13]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the shepherd's pipe and for a spear case.^[7][8]
• 6th–5th century BC – Parmenides uses it for a socket.^[9][14]
• 5th century BC – Empedocles and Sophocles use it for a duct in the body.^[9][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the herdsman's pipe and for whistling in the theatre.^[8][9][14]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius Rhodius uses it for a vein.^[9][14]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for an underground passage.^[9][2][14]
• Early 15th century – English borrows syringe through Late Latin.^[10]
• About 1600 – English borrows syrinx for the ancient instrument.^[10]
• Modern Greek – σύριγγα (síringa) names the panpipe and, after French, the syringe.^[12][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shepherd's pipe, the panpipe, often in the plural.^[8][9][7]
2. A sound like that of the pipe: a whistle or hiss of derision, a catcall.^[8][9]
3. The mouthpiece of the aulos.^[8]
4. A tubular object: a case for a spear, a socket, the hub of a wheel.^[9][7][2]
5. (anatomy, medicine) A duct in the body: the windpipe, a vein, a blood vessel, a fistula.^[9][2]
6. An underground passage, a tunnel; a covered gallery.^[9][2]
7. The quill of cassia.^[8]

Word family

• συρίζω (sūrízō)
• συρίγγιον (suríngion)
• σύριγμα (súrigma)
• συριγμός (surigmós)

Related words

• Latin syrinx
• English syringe
• English syrinx

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
6. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
7. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
14. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge