ἀλκυών

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /al.ky.ɔ̌ːn/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /al.cyˈon/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /al.cyˈon/^[1]

Forms

ᾰ̓λκῠών (alkuṓn) f (genitive ᾰ̓λκῠόνος); third declension^[1] Also ἁλκυών (halkuṓn), with rough breathing after a folk etymology, and Cretan αὐκυών (aukuṓn) (Hesychius).^[2][3][1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[4][2] Beekes thinks it probably a loan from a non-Indo-European language, from Pre-Greek, citing Furnée on substrate words in -ων, and the DGE suggests a Mediterranean loan.^[2][3][1] For the suffix Beekes compares ἀλεκτρυών (alektruṓn).^[2]

The spelling ἁλκυών arose from a folk etymology linking it with ἅλς (háls, “sea, salt”) and κυέω (kuéō, “to conceive”), as if the bird bred at sea.^[5][1][6] Choeroboscus explains the name this way.^[5][1][7][6] The form ἁλκυδών (halkudṓn), made after other bird names in -δων, gave Latin alcēdō.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Iliad.^[8] LSJ describes it as a mythical bird identified with the kingfisher.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

Lyric poets (Alcman, Sappho, Ibycus, Simonides), Aristophanes, Aristotle and Theocritus mention it, and the DGE identifies it with the common kingfisher or the white-throated kingfisher, Halcyon smyrnensis.^[3][5] The ἀλκυονίδες (alkuonídes) ἡμέραι, the period of the winter solstice when the kingfisher nests, are named in Aristophanes, and Aristotle calls them ἀλκυόνειοι.^[2] In Laconia Halcyon was the name of a divinity (Hesychius, Photius), and one of Lucian's works bears the title Halcyon.^[3][9]

It was borrowed as Latin halcyōn and alcēdō, and into Classical Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Old East Slavic.^[1] English halcyon comes through Latin, and its “halcyon days” translate the Greek phrase.^[6] The Modern Greek word for the same bird is Modern Greek αλκυόνα (alkyóna).^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – the Iliad names the bird.^[8][5][3]
• 7th century BC – Alcman mentions it.^[5][3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes names the “halcyon days”.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the bird and calls the days ἀλκυόνειοι.^[2][5][3]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian's Halcyon.^[3]
• 1540s – English halcyon days.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mythical sea bird identified with the kingfisher, the halcyon.^[5][3][1]
2. (Laconian) A divinity.^[3][9][1]

Word family

• ἀλκυονίς (alkuonís)
• ἀλκυονίδες (alkuonídes)

Related words

• Latin alcēdō
• English halcyon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)