ψάρ
Pronunciation
Forms
ψᾱ́ρ (psā́r) m (genitive ψᾱρός); third declension[1] Ionic and poetic ψήρ, genitive ψηρός, plural ψῆρες; a thematic ψᾶρος or ψάρος in Aristotle and Galen.[2][3]
Etymology
The origin is uncertain.[3][4][5] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Hellenic *spḗr and Proto-Indo-European *spḗr (“sparrow, bird”), the source of the English word sparrow.[1] Beekes, Frisk and Chantraine give it no certain etymology, and Beekes finds it impossible to connect the Germanic name of the starling, Old High German stara, with Latin sturnus (“starling”).[3][5][4] They compare the bird names discussed under σποργίλος (sporgílos), from Proto-Indo-European *sper-.[3][5] Chantraine adds that, as with many bird names, the forms are probably related but unstable.[4]
Homer has two vowels in the stem, the genitive plural ψαρῶν (psārôn) and the accusative plural ψῆρας (psêras).[4][3] Schmidt and Kretschmer took the oldest inflection to be nominative ψήρ (psḗr) beside a genitive with a short /a/, whose vowel was lengthened for the metre in the Homeric genitive, a new nominative ψάρ was then made from the genitive.[3][4][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is found twice in the Iliad, in similes: “like a cloud of starlings or jackdaws” (17.755), and a hawk that scatters jackdaws and starlings (16.583).[2][4]
Semantic evolution
The bird is named by the comic poet Antiphanes, by Aristotle, by the physicians Dioscorides and Galen, and in the Greek Anthology, and Plutarch mentions that starlings were taught to speak.[2][3] The derived adjective ψαρός (psarós) meant “starling-coloured, grey, speckled” (Aristophanes, Aristotle, Septuagint).[3][4] Hesychius records ψάρις (psáris), a kind of sparrow, and ψαρίχοι.[4]
Modern Greek keeps the bird as Modern Greek ψαρόνι (psaróni), formed from ψάρ or ψάρος with the suffix -όνι, and the adjective as ψαρός (psarós) “grey”.[6][4][7]
Timeline
- Homer – The Iliad names starlings in two similes.[2][4]
- 4th century BC – Antiphanes uses the plural ψᾶρες, and Aristotle the thematic ψάρος.[2][3][8]
- 1st century AD – Dioscorides names the starling.[3][9]
- 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch says that starlings were taught to speak.[2][8]
- 3rd century AD – Quintus Smyrnaeus uses the Ionic plural ψῆρες.[2][8]
- Modern Greek – The starling is called ψαρόνι (psaróni).[6][4]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
- ψαρός (psarós)
- Modern Greek ψαρόνι (psaróni)
Usage notes
Babiniotis notes that the Modern Greek adjective ψαρός (psarós) has nothing to do with ὀψάριον (opsárion), the source of the word for “fish”.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
- ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
- ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
- ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
- ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux