ἔριφος

Forms

ἔρῐφος (ériphos) m or f (genitive ἐρῐ́φου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It may be inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁er-i-bʰo-, as NIL reconstructs it, from a root *h₁er(i)- (“lamb, goat”).^[2] It is formed like ἔλαφος (élaphos, “deer”).^[3][4][5] It closely resembles an Old Irish word for “goat, deer”, Old Irish heirp.^[3][4][5] Words further off in sense and form are Old Armenian որոջ (oroǰ, “lamb”) and Latin ariēs (“ram”).^[3][4][5] Some have also seen an old word for “buck” in ἐρινεός (erīneós, “wild fig”).^[3][4] Wiktionary considers a substrate origin more likely, shared with the Latin and Old Irish words, because of their odd suffixes and their meaning.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means a young goat, a kid, named beside lambs.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is usually masculine, but feminine in Alcaeus and a Cretan inscription.^[6] In the plural it names the constellation of the Kids, from Democritus and Theocritus on.^[3][6]

In the New Testament it seems to mean simply a goat, set against sheep in Matthew 25:32, and a kid in Luke 15:29.^[7][8] Its derivatives include the diminutive ἐρίφιον (eríphion) and the adjective ἐρίφειος (erípheios) “of a kid”.^[3]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for a kid.^[6][7]
• 5th century BC – Democritus uses the plural for the constellation of the Kids.^[6][3][9]
• 1st century AD – Matthew's Gospel uses it of goats set apart from sheep.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young goat, kid.^[6][7]
2. (New Testament) A goat.^[7][8]
3. (plural, astronomy) The constellation of the Kids.^[6]

Word family

• ἐρίφιον (eríphion)
• ἐρίφειος (erípheios)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge