τράχηλος

Forms

τρᾰ́χηλος (trákhēlos) m (genitive τρᾰχήλου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[1] Beekes regards it as probably a Greek innovation beside the inherited words for the neck, αὐχήν (aukhḗn) and δέρη (dérē).^[2] Formally it suggests a link with τρέχω (trékhō, “to run”), and Létoublon and de Lamberterie found traces of an older meaning “turn” for that verb; but a neck “runner” is semantically odd, since the neck is usually named as the “turner”, as Lithuanian kãklas probably is.^[2][1] Beekes therefore also allows that it may be Pre-Greek, as Furnée believed, since the suffix -ηλος (-ēlos) is frequent in Pre-Greek.^[2][1]

Ancient writers derived it from τραχύς (trakhús, “rough”), because the neck is bony, or from the verb “to run”, because food runs through it.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Hipponax, in the 6th century BC, meaning the neck.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Herodotus, the Hippocratic writers and Euripides it is the neck or throat of people and animals, and sometimes the head itself, as cut off.^[8][5] Plato distinguishes it from αὐχήν (aukhḗn); a later writer explains that τράχηλος is the whole neck and throat, αὐχήν the back of the neck.^[8] Epidaurus has a Doric form τράχαλος (trákhalos).^[8]

In the Septuagint and the New Testament the neck bears the yoke of servitude, a millstone may be hung around it, and to “fall upon someone's neck” is to embrace him.^[9][5] Medicine used it for the neck of the womb.^[10]

Modern Greek τράχηλος (tráchilos) is learned: the neck, and, after French col de la matrice and the New Latin element trachel-, the cervix.^[10][6] English has the combining form English trachelo- from it.^[11]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it of the neck.^[5][6][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus, the Hippocratic Aphorisms and Euripides use it of the neck and throat.^[8][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato distinguishes it from αὐχήν (aukhḗn).^[8][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of falling on someone's neck, to embrace him.^[9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τράχηλος (tráchilos) is a learned word for the neck and the cervix.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The neck of a person or animal.^[8][5]
2. The throat.^[8][5]
3. (by extension) The head, as cut off.^[5]
4. (figurative) The neck as bearing a yoke or trodden on by a victor.^[5][9]

Related words

• English trachelo-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
4. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
8. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com