ὠρυγή

Forms

ὠρῡγή (ōrūgḗ) f (genitive ὠρῡγῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek ὠρύομαι (ōrúomai, “to howl, roar”), made with the suffix -ή (-ḗ).^[1][2] Chantraine counts it among the forms of that verb extended with a /g/, beside ὠρυγμός (ōrugmós) and ὤρυγμα (ṓrugma).^[3]

Chantraine thinks the verb's root perhaps imitates a hoarse cry, and compares Sanskrit रौति (ráuti), rūmor (“rumour”) and rāvis (“hoarseness”); the forms with /g/ have parallels in rūgiō (“to roar”) and Greek ἐρεύγομαι (ereúgomai).^[3] Wiktionary derives the verb from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (“to howl, roar”), leaving its long first vowel unexplained.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It may first occur in Hermesianax, though the reading is doubtful, and it is found in a papyrus fragment of Erinna; its meaning is a howling.^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Properly the word was used of wolves and dogs: Hesychius says it is chiefly the cry of dogs, and Pollux uses it of wolves.^[7][5][8] It was otherwise a rare word of later prose: Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch use it for a loud wild cry, Plutarch in his Lives of Themistocles, Marius and Crassus.^[9][5] Hesychius also glosses it as a voice and a din.^[7] The Greek Wiktionary defines it as a wild cry or the howling of an animal.^[2]

Timeline

• 4th–3rd century BC – Hermesianax may use it, but the reading is doubtful.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it in his Roman Antiquities.^[9][6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it in his Lives of Themistocles, Marius and Crassus.^[5][9][6]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux records it as the proper word for the howling of wolves.^[5][6]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a voice, a din and above all the cry of dogs.^[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A howling, properly of wolves or dogs.^[5][1][8]
2. A loud wild cry or din.^[7][9]

Related words

• ὠρύομαι (ōrúomai)
• ὠρυγμός (ōrugmós)
• ὤρυγμα (ṓrugma)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c 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
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
8. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux