ὀξύς

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ok.sýs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /okˈsys/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /okˈsys/^[1]

Forms

ὀξῠ́ς (oxús) m (feminine ὀξεῖᾰ, neuter ὀξῠ́); first/third declension^[1]

Etymology

It has no exact correspondences outside Greek.^[2][3] The traditional explanation makes it inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”), as a u-stem adjective with the o-grade of the root of ἄκρος (ákros) and ὄκρις (ókris) “point”.^[3][1][4] Frisk sees in it a zero grade *oḱs- of an s-stem.^[3][1][4]

Beekes objects that there are no other u-stem adjectives with o-vowel, and finds Narten's root Proto-Indo-European *h₃ks-, based on Sanskrit अक्ष्णोति (akṣṇoti, “to mark the ear”), doubtful.^[2][1]

Byzantine etymologists derived it from ξύω (xúō) or ξέω (xéō) “to scrape”, as if “scraped” sharp.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it above all of weapons and cutting tools, sharp of point or edge, and of stakes, rocks and peaks; also of the piercing rays of the sun, shrill cries and sharp pains, and as an epithet of Ares and of battle, “keen, fierce”.^[6][7] The neuter ὀξύ is an adverb of quick seeing and hearing.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Classical Greek applied it to everything sharp to the senses: shrill or high-pitched sounds and voices, keen sight and hearing, dazzling light, acid tastes in wine, food and bile, and to temper and mind, “quick, hasty, sharp-witted”.^[8][7][4] Technical uses grew from it: in geometry the acute angle, ὀξεῖα γωνία (Plato, Aristotle, Euclid), in grammar the acute accent (Plato), and in medicine acute illness.^[8][7][4]

In the New Testament it describes the sharp sword and sickle of Revelation and the feet “swift to shed blood” of Romans 3:15.^[9] Medieval Greek kept it for pointed and cutting things, steep slopes, strong winds and smells, and quick minds.^[10] Modern Greek οξύς (oxýs) is a learned revival, used of acute angles, shrill sounds, keen senses and acute illnesses, and Modern Greek οξύ (oxý) “acid” and Modern Greek οξυγόνο (oxygóno) “oxygen” keep the stem.^[11][5] English oxy- is from it.^[12]

Timeline

• Homer – sharp weapons, stakes and rocks, piercing pain, “keen” Ares.^[6][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus calls the apex of the Nile Delta τὸ ὀξύ.^[8][7][13]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of the acute angle and the acute accent.^[8][13]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses ὀξεῖα γωνία for an acute angle.^[7][13]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid defines the acute angle.^[7][13]
• 1st century AD – the New Testament: a sharp sword, feet swift to shed blood.^[9]
• Modern Greek – οξύς as a learned word; οξύ “acid”, οξυγόνο “oxygen”.^[11][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sharp, pointed; of weapons and tools, keen.^[8][7]
2. Naturally sharp: of rocks, peaks, claws.^[8]
3. Tapering to a point, (geometry) acute, of an angle; as a noun, the apex.^[8][7]
4. Of sounds: shrill, piercing, (music) high-pitched.^[8]
5. (grammar) Acute, of an accent or syllable.^[8]
6. Of sight and hearing: keen.^[8][6]
7. Of what is perceived: piercing (sun, wind), dazzling (light, colour), sour or acid (wine, bile).^[8][7]
8. Quick, swift; hasty, passionate.^[9][1][4]
9. Sharp-witted, clever.^[1][4]

Word family

• ὄξος (óxos)
• ὀξύβαφον (oxúbaphon)
• ὀξύτης (oxútēs)
• ὀξύτονος (oxútonos)
• ὀξυθυμία (oxuthūmíā)
• ὀξύθυμος (oxúthūmos)
• ὀξύμωρος (oxúmōros)
• ὀξύνω (oxū́nō)
• παροξυσμός (paroxusmós)

Related words

• ἄκρος (ákros)
• English oxymoron
• English oxy-

Usage notes

A noun ὀξύς, genitive ὀξύδος, names sorrel or dock (Pliny, Galen); Beekes lists it among the derivatives of the adjective.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Βασικό Λεξικό της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής, Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
5. ^ a b c Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge