ἄντυξ

Forms

ᾰ̓́ντῠξ (ántux) f (genitive ᾰ̓́ντῠγος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][1] Chantraine and Frisk explain it as a compound of ἀνά (aná, “up”) and a root noun belonging to τεύχω (teúkhō, “to make”) and τετυκεῖν (tetukeîn), formed like ἄμπυξ (ámpux) and καταῖτυξ (kataîtux).^[3][4] The DGE follows this view.^[5] Beekes finds it highly questionable, because the verb's forms have ⟨χ⟩ or ⟨κ⟩, not the ⟨γ⟩ of the genitive, and he notes that the two similar words have no etymology either.^[2][1]

Ancient grammarians also linked it with the verb “to make”: Apollonius the Sophist explained it as what is made on top of the whole object, from ἄνω (ánō, “above”), while Apion derived it from ἀντέχω (antékhō, “to hold against”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer, only in the Iliad, it is the rim of a round shield and the curved rail round the front of a chariot, from which the driver stretched the reins.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The tragedians kept the chariot rail and, in the plural, used the word for the chariot itself, and Euripides also used it for the frame of a lyre.^[7][9] Plato uses the rails among the parts of a wagon in the Theaetetus.^[7]

Later the word came to mean any circle or curve: the orbit of a planet in a Homeric hymn, the disk of the half-moon in Moschus, the vault of heaven in epigrams, and in Nonnus the round of the world and the curves of the body.^[7][3][9] Eunapius used it for the outermost tier of a theatre.^[7] LSJ calls it a poetic word, used in prose only by Plato and Lucian.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the rim of a shield and the rail of a chariot.^[7][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – The Hesiodic Shield uses the plural for the rails of a chariot.^[10][9][5]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use the plural for the chariot itself, and Euripides uses it for the frame of a lyre.^[7][9][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato counts the rails among the parts of a wagon.^[7][5]
• 2nd century BC – Moschus uses it for the disk of the half-moon.^[7][9][5]
• 4th–5th century AD – Nonnus uses it for the circle of the world and the curves of the body, and Eunapius for the top tier of a theatre.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rim of a round shield.^[7][9]
2. The curved rail round the front of a chariot.^[7][9]
3. (in the plural, later also the singular) The chariot itself.^[7][9]
4. The frame or bridge of a lyre.^[7][9]
5. The orbit of a planet; the vault of heaven; the disk of the moon.^[7][9]
6. (Nonnus) The curve of a part of the body.^[7]
7. The outermost tier of seats in a theatre.^[7]

Related words

• ἄμπυξ (ámpux)
• καταῖτυξ (kataîtux)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 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
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux