ῥίς

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /r̥ǐːs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈris/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈris/^[1]

Forms

ῥῑ́ς (rhī́s) f (genitive ῥῑνός); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3] The word replaced the old Indo-European name of the nose, seen in Latin nārēs and nāsus.^[3][2] It is formed like ἴς (ís) and θίς (thís).^[3][2]

Meier-Brügger's reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *sr-ih₂-n-, from a root for “top, point” seen in Hittite šer (“above”), is interesting but not compelling, and Frisk calls Hamp's comparison with Old Irish srón (“nose”) arbitrary.^[2] Beekes thinks the word may well be Pre-Greek.^[3][2][4]

Aristarchus derived it from ῥέω (rhéō) “to flow”, because the surplus fluids of the head flow out through the nose, and wanted to spell it with ⟨ει⟩, a spelling the manuscript tradition does not know.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses the singular for the nose and the plural for the nostrils or the nose as a whole.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Classical prose uses it for the nose or snout of people and animals (Herodotus, Aristophanes, Plato); “to lead someone by the nose” is in Lucian.^[7] An inscription from Halaesa in Sicily probably uses it for the brow of a hill or a projecting spur of land.^[7] A later nominative ῥίν appears in Aretaeus and Lucian, and in Soranus it names a bandage.^[7]

Medieval Greek used it for the nose, a bird's beak and the nostrils, and for the nose-guard of a helmet; the form ρίνα is still Cretan.^[8] The Modern Greek word for the nose is Modern Greek μύτη (mýti), but ρίνα and the combining form ρινο- live on in learned and medical words such as ρινικός.^[5][4][1] English rhino- comes from the same combining form.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – the nose; in the plural, the nostrils.^[6][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus writes of cutting off a nose.^[7][4][10]
• 2nd century AD – Lucian has “to lead by the nose”, and Aretaeus the nominative ῥίν.^[7][10]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it with ῥίν and ῥώθων.^[11][10]
• Medieval Greek – the nose, a bird's beak, the nose-guard of a helmet.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The nose or snout of people and animals.^[7][12]
2. (plural) The nostrils; the nose.^[7][12]
3. (probably) The brow of a hill, a projecting spur of land.^[7]
4. (medicine, in the form ῥίν) A kind of bandage.^[7]

Word family

• ῥινόκερως (rhīnókerōs)
• εὔρις (eúris)
• ῥινηλατέω (rhinēlatéō)
• ῥινάω (rhináō)

Related words

• ἀνάρρινον (anárrhīnon)
• ἀντίρρινον (antírrhīnon)
• ἄρρινον (árrinon)
• ἔρρινον (érrhīnon)
• εὐθύρινος (euthúrinos)
• εὔρινος (eúrinos)
• ῥινουλκέω (rhinoulkéō)
• English rhinoceros
• English rhino-

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
3. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b 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 Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
12. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press