ἔχις

Forms

ἔχῐς (ékhis) m or f (genitive ἔχῐος or ἔχεως); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰi- (“snake”).^[2][3] If, as Beekes and Frisk hold, the name of the hedgehog ἐχῖνος (ekhînos) is derived from it, ἔχις must have had a palatal /ǵʰ/.^[2][4][5] The similar words for “snake”, Sanskrit अहि (áhi) and Old Armenian իժ (iž), would then belong rather with ὄφις (óphis) (Proto-Indo-European *h₃egʷʰi-), because they cannot continue a palatal.^[2][4] Wiktionary follows the older view, which derives ἔχις together with those words from Proto-Indo-European *h₁égʰis.^[1] Chantraine notes that names for snakes and vipers were exposed to many variations, perhaps through taboo, and that ἔχις is not far from the word for “snake”.^[5]

The feminine ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “viper”) is usually taken as a derivative in -ια (-ia), but Beekes thinks it a Pre-Greek loan, since -δνα (-dna) is a typical Pre-Greek suffix.^[2][4] The Etymologicum Magnum explained the name from ἔχω (ékhō, “to hold”), because the viper alone among snakes keeps its young in its body until birth.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plato, in the 5th–4th century BC, meaning a viper.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word was Attic and was less usual than ἔχιδνα.^[2][5] From the start it served as an image of dangerous people: Demosthenes calls an opponent a sycophant and by nature a viper, ready to strike like a scorpion.^[7][8] The Septuagint has it once, in Sirach.^[10]

Derivatives name plants and a stone: ἔχιον (ékhion) is a plant whose fruit looks like a snake's head, and ἐχῖτις (ekhîtis) a stone named for its colour.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the viper.^[7][8][9]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes calls an opponent a viper, and Aristotle writes of the animal.^[7][8]
• 2nd century BC – Nicander uses the forms ἔχιος and ἐχίεσσι.^[7]
• 2nd century AD – Oppian uses it as a feminine.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A viper, adder.^[7][8]
2. (figurative) A malicious, dangerous person.^[7][8]

Word family

• ἐχίδιον (ekhídion)
• ἔχιον (ékhion)

Related words

• ἔχιδνα (ékhidna)
• ἐχῖνος (ekhînos)
• ὄφις (óphis)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft