ἐμπίς

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /em.pís/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /emˈpis/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /emˈpis/^[1]

Forms

ἐμπῐ́ς (empís) f (genitive ἐμπῐ́δος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a popular back-formation from Ancient Greek ἐμπίνω (empínō, “to drink one's fill”), the insect being the one that drinks itself full of blood, as δικλίς (diklís) comes from κλίνω (klī́nō).^[2][3][4][5] Strömberg argued this in detail, and Beekes and Frisk judge the older explanations all wrong.^[2][4]

Pokorny instead set up a root Proto-Indo-European *embhi- or *empi-, ‘a kind of mosquito or bee’, comparing Old High German imbi (“swarm of bees”) and German Imme (“bee”).^[6][1] Kroonen rejects the comparison, and Wiktionary notes that the likeness could also point to a widespread European substrate word, in view of Latin apis (“bee”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Aristophanes, for a gnat or mosquito: in the Clouds, and in the Birds, where the gnats are “sharp-mouthed”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses it in his zoology for a gnat, the midge Chironomus, whose development from a water larva he describes, and probably also for the mayfly.^[7][10] Whether it was distinguished from κώνωψ (kṓnōps) is discussed by Gil Fernández.^[3] Porphyry still uses it.^[7]

The lexica gloss it as κώνωψ (kṓnōps), or as a creature born in water, like a gnat but bigger.^[11][12][13] Zonaras adds that it has a white band round its middle.^[13]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for gnats in the Clouds, the Birds and the Lysistrata.^[7][9][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the development of the gnat from a water larva.^[7][10][5]
• 3rd century AD – Porphyry uses it.^[7][5]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a gnat or a larger water insect.^[11][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mosquito, gnat.^[7][8][2]
2. (zoology) The midge Chironomus; probably also the mayfly.^[7][10]
3. The larva of the οἶστρος (oîstros) (a variant reading in Aristotle).^[7]

Related words

• ἐμπίνω (empínō)
• κώνωψ (kṓnōps)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b c Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
12. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
13. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius