ἀγκύλος

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /aŋ.ký.los/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /aɲˈɟy.los/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /aɲˈɟy.los/^[1]

Forms

ἀγκύλος (ankúlos) m (feminine ἀγκύλη, neuter ἀγκύλον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk- (“to bend”), a widespread root, with a stem in ⟨-υ-⟩ and the suffix ⟨-λος⟩.^[2][1][3] The suffix with ⟨l⟩ is also found in Old High German angul (“fishhook”) and Old Norse ól (“belt”).^[2] Beekes notes that Wheeler's Law, an accent shift, operated in the Greek form.^[2] The same root gives ὄγκος (ónkos, “barb”), ἀγκών (ankṓn) and ἄγκος (ánkos).^[2][4][3] Beekes doubts the usual link with ἄγκυρα (ánkura, “anchor”), which he takes as a substrate word.^[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it describes curved bows and the curved front of a chariot.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Pindar used it of the hooked head of the eagle, and Aristophanes of grasping fingers bent like talons.^[4][5] Later it described a fishing rod bending under a fish, a winding river and the bending shape of a shield.^[5] Rhetoric used it of an intricate style, and in a good sense of a terse one.^[4] Lycophron used it for “crafty”.^[4] Modern Greek αγκύλος (agkýlos) is a learned borrowing, and its family includes Modern Greek αγκύλωση (agkýlosi, “ankylosis”), from Hellenistic ἀγκύλωσις (ankúlōsis).^[6][7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of curved bows; the Iliad also of a chariot.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of an eagle's hooked head.^[4][5][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of hooked, grasping fingers.^[4][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it of a bending fishing rod.^[4][5][3]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian uses it of an intricate style.^[4][3]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek αγκύλος (agkýlos) is a learned borrowing of the ancient word.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Crooked, curved, bent; of a river, winding.^[4][5]
2. Hooked, of an eagle's beak or of grasping fingers.^[4][5]
3. Of style, intricate; in a good sense, terse.^[4]
4. Wily, crafty.^[4]

Word family

• ἀγκύλη (ankúlē)
• ἀγκυλομήτης (ankulomḗtēs)
• ἀγκυλόω (ankulóō)

Related words

• ἄγκυρα (ánkūra)
• ὄγκος (ónkos)
• English ankylosis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon 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 Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας