ἄνθραξ

Forms

ᾰ̓́νθρᾰξ (ánthrax) m (genitive ᾰ̓́νθρᾰκος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, because Furnée compares ἀνδράχλη (andrákhlē, “brazier”) and the Hesychius gloss κάνδαρος (kándaros), explained as “charcoal”, with the interchange of κ and zero typical of Pre-Greek, and because of the suffix -ακ-.^[2][3] Scarborough's database rates this Pre-Greek origin as highly reliable.^[4]

Frisk calls the word unclear.^[5] He and Beekes mention Old Armenian անթեղ (antʻeł, “live coal”) and a Georgian root meaning “kindle”, but the formations differ too much.^[5][2][1] The DGE rejects a link with Old Norse sindr (“dross of metal”), and Beekes calls the comparison with a Hittite word for “warm” useless, because it does not explain how the Greek word is formed.^[6][2] If the word is related to the Armenian one, the root is not Indo-European.^[6]

Ancient grammarians derived it from ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”) or from θέρω (thérō, “to heat”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hipponax, in the 6th century BC, is the first to use it, in the plural, for charcoal.^[8][9][6] In the 5th century BC Thucydides, Euripides and Aristophanes use it for charcoal and live coals.^[10][8][11]

Semantic evolution

The plural was the usual word for charcoal, and Aristophanes mentions charcoal from Mount Parnes.^[10][8] Aristotle noted that the fumes of burning charcoal make people drowsy, and Theophrastus used the word for the mineral coal that smiths burn.^[10]

From the glow of a live coal the word came to name a dark-red precious stone, the carbuncle, which may have included the ruby and the garnet, in Aristotle, the Septuagint and later writers.^[10] The Hippocratic writers and Galen used it for a malignant pustule, a carbuncle.^[10] In papyri it also names woad.^[10] The New Testament has it only in the proverb “to heap coals of fire on someone's head”, taken from Proverbs, which probably means to make the person ashamed.^[12]

Latin borrowed the word as Latin anthrax, and English took anthrax “severe boil” from Latin in the late 14th century, and anthracite comes from the Greek derivative ἀνθρακίτης (anthrakítēs) through Latin.^[13] Medieval Greek kept the word, also as άνθρακας (ánthrakas).^[14][9] In Modern Greek άνθρακας (ánthrakas) is a learned word: it names coal, and also carbon (a semantic loan from French carbone) and the disease anthrax (from English).^[15]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it for charcoal.^[8][9]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides, Euripides and Aristophanes use it for charcoal and live coals.^[10][8]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for a carbuncle, a malignant pustule.^[10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a dark-red precious stone.^[10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the mineral coal that smiths burn.^[10]
• 2nd century AD – Galen still uses it for the carbuncle on the skin.^[10]
• Late 14th century – English borrows anthrax “severe boil” from Latin.^[13]
• 1812 – English anthracite is first recorded for hard coal.^[13]
• Modern Greek – Learned άνθρακας (ánthrakas) names coal, carbon and anthrax.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of charcoal or coal; in the plural (or as a collective singular), charcoal; in Aristophanes, figuratively, of a woman's genitals.^[10][8]
2. A burning coal, an ember.^[8][12]
3. Mineral coal.^[10]
4. A dark-red precious stone, the carbuncle, including the ruby and the garnet.^[10]
5. (medicine) A carbuncle, a malignant pustule.^[10]
6. (papyri) woad.^[10]

Word family

• ἀνθρακεύς (anthrakeús)
• ἀνθρακεύω (anthrakeúō)
• ἀνθρακίζω (anthrakízō)
• ἀνθρακόομαι (anthrakóomai)
• ἀπανθρακίζω (apanthrakízō)
• ἐπανθρακίδες (epanthrakídes)
• φιλανθρακεύς (philanthrakeús)
• ἀνθρακιά (anthrakiā́)
• ἀνθράκινος (anthrákinos)
• ἀνθρακῖτις (anthrakîtis)
• ἀνθρακόεις (anthrakóeis)
• ἐξανθρακόω (exanthrakóō)
• πολυάνθραξ (poluánthrax)

Related words

• Latin anthrax
• English anthrax
• English anthracite

Usage notes

“To eat coals” was said of a glutton.^[10] In Romans, “heaping burning coals on someone's head” repeats the proverb in Proverbs.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
12. ^ a b c 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
13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
15. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki