ἵππος

Forms

ῐ̔́ππος (híppos) m or f (genitive ῐ̔́ππου); second declension^[1] Mycenaean Greek i-qo.^[1][2] A form with a doubled velar, ἴκκος, is found in the Etymologicum Magnum and in personal names.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *íkkʷos,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos (“horse”), the inherited Indo-European name of the horse.^[3][1][4] Cognate with Sanskrit अश्व (áśva), Latin equus, Old Irish ech, Old English eoh, Lithuanian ašva (“mare”) and Tocharian B yakwe, and perhaps Old Armenian էշ (ēš, “donkey”).^[3][1] Beekes, following Kloekhorst, takes the Anatolian forms to show an older athematic stem *h₁eḱu-.^[3]

From the Indo-European form one would expect a Greek form beginning with e- and with a single consonant; the vowel ἰ-, the rough breathing and the doubled ππ are all unexplained.^[3][1][5] A Mycenaean origin has been suggested for the vowel, and Wiktionary mentions a borrowing from another Indo-European language.^[3][1] According to Aulus Gellius the rough breathing was only Attic, and names such as Λεύκιππος (Leúkippos) show that it was not old.^[5][2] A connection with ὠκύς (ōkús, “swift”) cannot be shown.^[3] Late ancient writers derived the word from speeding or “flying” with the feet.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets have the word as i-qo.^[1][2] In Homer it is the horse or mare, used with war chariots and for riding; in the plural and dual it is a chariot team, and by extension the chariot itself.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Poets use it most often in the feminine, and the Odyssey calls ships “horses of the sea”.^[5][7] As a collective feminine singular it means cavalry, even with numerals: Herodotus speaks of “a thousand horse”.^[5][7] Herodotus also calls the hippopotamus the “river horse”.^[5][7]

Later it names the constellation Pegasus, a sea fish, a disease of the eyes that makes them blink, and perhaps an instrument of torture.^[5] Plutarch's use answers to Latin eculeus.^[5] In compounds it marks something big or coarse, like English “horse-”.^[5] In the New Testament the horses of Revelation play a large part.^[8]

Modern Greek ίππος (íppos) is a learned word: besides the horse, it is a unit of power on the model of French cheval and English horsepower, and a gymnastic vaulting horse after French cheval d'arçon.^[9] The many English words with hippo- go back to this word.^[10]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets have the word as i-qo.^[1][2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for horses and chariot teams, and for ships as “horses of the sea”.^[5][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the feminine singular for cavalry and calls the hippopotamus the river horse.^[5][7][11]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it, perhaps, for an instrument of torture.^[5][7][11]
• New Testament – The Book of Revelation describes horses of various colours.^[8]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a disease of the eyes.^[5][11]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned word, also for horsepower and the vaulting horse.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A horse (masculine) or mare (feminine).^[5][7]
2. In the dual and plural: a chariot team, and so the chariot itself.^[5][7]
3. Collective feminine singular: cavalry.^[5][7]
4. (figurative) A ship, “horse of the sea”.^[5][7]
5. Ἵππος ποτάμιος: the hippopotamus.^[5][7]
6. (astronomy) The constellation Pegasus.^[5]
7. A sea fish.^[5]
8. (medicine) A disease of the eyes which makes them blink constantly.^[5]
9. Perhaps an instrument of torture.^[5][7]

Word family

• ἄφιππος (áphippos)
• ἱππεύς (hippeús)
• ἱππεύω (hippeúō)
• ἱππικός (hippikós)
• ἱππόδαμος (hippódamos)
• ἱππόδρομος (hippódromos)
• ἱππιατρός (hippīātrós)
• ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos)

Related words

• Latin equus
• English hippopotamus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
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. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge