τόξον

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /tók.son/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈtok.son/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈtok.son/^[1]

Forms

τόξον (tóxon) n (genitive τόξου); second declension^[1] Mycenaean derivatives: Mycenaean Greek to-ko-so-ta archers and Mycenaean Greek to-ko-so-wo-ko bow-makers (Pylos tablet An 207).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek.^[2][5] Already in Homer it is the usual word for the bow, replacing the inherited βιός (biós).^[2][4] Because the Iranians, and the Scythians above all, were famous archers, a loan from Iranian has long been suspected: compare Persian تخش (taxš, “bow, arrow”), and Scythian personal names such as Τόξαρις and Τάξακις look similar.^[2][4] Beekes argues that the Mycenaean derivatives Mycenaean Greek to-ko-so-ta and Mycenaean Greek to-ko-so-wo-ko make such a loan impossible.^[2][5] Chantraine, on the contrary, still thinks an Iranian, perhaps Scythian, source likely and does not see the Mycenaean forms as an objection;^[4] Babiniotis also prefers a borrowing from Old Persian.^[6] Pokorny traced the Iranian word to Proto-Indo-European *tekʷ- (“to run, flow”), as “what shoots forth”.^[7]

Beekes allows that Latin taxus (“yew”) may be related, though it cannot be a borrowing from Greek.^[2] Chantraine finds any link between the Iranian word and the Latin one unlikely.^[4] Scarborough's database rates the Pre-Greek origin as highly reliable.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is the bow, very often in the plural τόξα for a single bow, since the weapon was made of two horns joined in the middle.^[9][10] The Iliad also uses it for skill in archery, a gift of Apollo to Pandarus.^[11][9]

Semantic evolution

In poetry the bow belongs to particular heroes (Heracles, Philoctetes), gods (Apollo, Artemis) and peoples (Amazons, Cretans, Persians, Scythians), and is used in war, hunting and archery contests.^[12] The plural could mean the bow with its arrows, or the arrows alone.^[9][12] As a weapon of war it was soon given up by most Greeks and became a mark of the Asian armies, such as those Herodotus lists in the army of Xerxes.^[13]

Figurative uses appear early: Pindar speaks of the “bows” of the vine for the power of wine, and Euripides calls the rays of the sun its bows.^[9][12] The Septuagint uses the word for the rainbow that God sets in the clouds after the Flood, and Revelation gives a bow to the rider on the white horse.^[14][15] Later it was used for an architectural arch, a curved support used by surgeons in amputations, and part of a cart.^[9]

Modern Greek τόξο (tókso) is a learned form of the ancient word: besides the weapon it means a geometrical arc, an architectural arch (after French arc) and the bow of a stringed instrument (after Italian arco or French archet).^[16][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the bow, often in the plural.^[9][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Heraclitus uses it in prose.^[9][17]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of the art of the bow, and Euripides calls the sun's rays its bows.^[9][17]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it for part of a cart.^[9]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint's Genesis uses it for the rainbow.^[9][14]
• 2nd century AD – The physician Archigenes uses it for a curved support in amputations.^[9][17]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τόξο (tókso) survives as a learned word for the bow, an arc and an arch.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bow for shooting arrows.^[9][12][11]
2. (plural) Bow and arrows; sometimes the arrows alone.^[9][12]
3. Skill with the bow, archery.^[9][11]
4. (figurative) A shaft or dart: the rays of the sun, the power of wine, cutting words.^[9][12]
5. The rainbow.^[9][14]
6. An arch.^[9]
7. A curved support used in amputations; part of a cart.^[9]

Word family

• ἀργυρότοξος (argurótoxos)
• τοξικός (toxikós)
• τοξότης (toxótēs)
• τοξεύς (toxeús)
• τοξοθήκη (toxothḗkē)

Related words

• Latin taxus
• English toxic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
11. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
12. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
13. ^ Smith, William; Wayte, William; Marindin, G. E., eds. (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed., London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
17. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge