Etymologically
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φοῖνιξ

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Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /pʰôi̯.niks/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈɸy.niks/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈfy.niks/[1]

Forms

φοῖνῐξ (phoînix) m (genitive φοίνῑκος); third declension[1] Mycenaean Greek po-ni-ke, probably the dative φοινίκει.[2][3]

Etymology

Beekes splits the word into four entries, each with its own origin.[4] For the colour he considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, related to the people's name Φοίνικες, the Phoenicians, and to the adjective φοινός (phoinós, “blood-red”).[4] The date palm is literally “the Phoenician” tree, named after the eastern origin of the palm and the Phoenicians' trade in dates;[4] Chantraine agrees.[3] The stringed instrument is the Phoenician instrument: Semus derived the name from the palm wood of its arms, which Chantraine calls absurd, since Herodotus says the arms could be of horn.[4][3] The mythical bird is probably borrowed from Egyptian bnw (“phoenix, Bennu bird”).[4][1]

Others see one word behind most of the senses.[5][1] LSJ explains the colour by the Phoenicians, to whom the discovery of the purple dye was ascribed.[5] Wiktionary notes that the dye came only from Phoenicia, which assures some connection, but that it is unclear whether the word is Greek or a Phoenician loan, and that some derive the bird's name from the dye because of its red plumage.[1] Babiniotis derives the adjective “deep red” from φοινός.[2] Chantraine finds no Semitic source for the name of the Phoenicians, who called themselves Canaanites; the word would already be Mycenaean if the tablets' Mycenaean Greek po-ni-ke means “palm” or a palm ornament.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is the crimson dye with which a woman stains ivory, and an adjective for a bay horse; the Odyssey uses it for a young date palm and for a Phoenician.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

In Homer and later as an ethnic name it means a Phoenician, a man or woman of Phoenicia, and Pindar and Thucydides use it of the Carthaginians.[5] The colour sense is used of reins, robes and crests, of fire and of tawny cattle.[7][4] As the name of the palm it was extended to palm wood (Herodotus), to the palm frond given to victors (Aristotle, Plutarch) and to the date, and Theophrastus and Dioscorides use it for the dwarf palm, a sea-plant and rye-grass.[5][7]

Herodotus describes a lyre-like instrument of this name, and he and Hesiod the fabulous bird, the phoenix, which he says came from Arabia; later writers put its home in India.[5][4] In the New Testament it is the date palm.[8] Today Modern Greek φοίνικας (foínikas) is a learned word for the date palm.[9][2]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it for crimson dye and a bay horse, the Odyssey for a palm tree and for Phoenicians.[6][5]
  • Before the 6th century BC – A fragment of Hesiod mentions the phoenix bird.[5][4][10]
  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for Carthaginians.[5][10]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus describes the phoenix bird and a stringed instrument of this name.[5][4][10]
  • 4th century BC – Aristotle mentions the palm frond as a badge of victory.[5][10]
  • 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the dwarf palm and a sea-plant.[5][10]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the date palm.[8]
  • Modern Greek – Modern Greek φοίνικας (foínikas) survives as a learned word.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A Phoenician; also a Carthaginian.[5]
  2. Purple or crimson dye or colour.[5][7]
  3. The date palm; palm wood; a palm frond given to victors; a date.[5][7]
  4. Other plants: the dwarf palm, a sea-plant, rye-grass.[5]
  5. A stringed instrument like a lyre, said to be a Phoenician invention.[5][4]
  6. The fabulous bird, the phoenix.[5][4]

Adjective

  1. Red, crimson; of a horse, bay; of cattle, tawny.[5][7]

Word family

  • φοινικίς (phoinikís)
  • φοινίσσω (phoiníssō)
  • φοινίκεος (phoinī́keos)
  • φοινικοῦς (phoinikoûs)
  • φοινικών (phoinīkṓn)
  • φοινικόπτερος (phoinīkópteros)
  • φοινός (phoinós)

Usage notes

To live “the years of the phoenix” was proverbial for a very long life.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  3. ^ a b c d 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
  7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  10. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge