Etymologically
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ἀλκυών

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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)

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)