Ἰνδικός

Forms

Ἰνδικός (Indikós) m (feminine Ἰνδική, neuter Ἰνδικόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek Ἰνδία (Indíā) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2] Köbler relates it directly to Ἰνδός (Indós, “Indus; an Indian”), the base of Ἰνδία.^[3][4] Ἰνδός is from Old Persian hiⁿdūš, the Old Persian name of the province of Sind, from *hínduš, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *síndʰuš (“river”), whose further origin is uncertain.^[1][4] Compare Sanskrit सिन्धु (síndhu, “river, stream”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text with the word is Sophocles' Antigone, which speaks of Indian gold,^[5][6] while Herodotus, in the same century, uses it of the Indian land and of a breed of dog.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Xenophon also writes of Indian dogs, Callimachus of Indian ants, imagined as dogs, Polybius of Indian elephants, and Plutarch of the Indian language; the feminine used as a noun means India.^[6] In medicine an “Indian drug” was a kind of pepper in the Hippocratic writings, but indigo in a papyrus; the neuter named the indigo plant in Dioscorides and an eye-salve in Galen.^[7]

Latin borrowed it as indicus, and the neuter indicum “indigo” is the source of Spanish indico and English indigo.^[1][4] English Indic (1877) is from the Latin or the Greek adjective.^[4] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for what belongs to or comes from India, and also for an Indian.^[8] Modern Greek ινδικός (indikós) is a learned continuation, found in names such as the Indian Ocean and that of a small rodent, the “Indian piglet”.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophocles speaks of Indian gold, and Herodotus uses it of the Indian land and its dogs.^[6][5][7]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use “Indian drug” for a kind of pepper.^[7]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius writes of Indian elephants and uses the feminine for India.^[6]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses the neuter for the indigo plant.^[7]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it as the name of an eye-salve.^[7]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it of things from India and of Indians.^[8]
• 1877 – English Indic is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to India or the Indians, Indian.^[7][6][10]
2. (feminine, as a noun) India.^[6]
3. (neuter, as a noun) A kind of pepper; later indigo, the dye and the plant.^[7]
4. (medicine) The name of an eye-salve.^[7]

Related words

• Ἰνδός (Indós)
• Ἰνδία (Indíā)
• Latin indicus
• English indigo
• English Indic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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 Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli