ῥύαξ

Forms

ῥῠ́ᾱξ (rhúāx) m (genitive ῥῠ́ᾱκος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”), formed with the suffix -αξ (-ax).^[2][3][4] Beekes, following Björck, takes it to be probably a Sicilian word.^[2] Hesychius records a related ῥύαγξ (rhúanx), glossed “cleft, chasm”, and Laconian has ῥυάχετος (rhuákhetos, “crowd of people”), which Beekes explains as an expressive enlargement of ῥύαξ, perhaps after ὀχετός (okhetós, “channel”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Thucydides (5th century BC)^[5] in two senses: a rushing stream or gully, and the stream of lava that flowed from Etna.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Plato uses it of the streams of lava, and the orator Lycurgus of a stream of fire.^[3][6] Aristotle calls ῥύακες the two ducts through which the milk of dolphins and similar animals flows.^[3] Diodorus Siculus uses it figuratively, of a stream of silver, and the physician Dioscorides of a mountain torrent.^[3]

It was borrowed as Latin rhyax.^[1] In medieval Greek the diminutive ρυάκιον (ryákion) appears beside it,^[7][4] and the ancient noun is still recorded in the vernacular literature of 1100–1669.^[8] The diminutive survives as Modern Greek ρυάκι (ryáki), a small stream of water.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of a mountain torrent and of a stream of lava from Etna.^[3][6][5]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of streams of lava.^[3][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the milk ducts of dolphins.^[3][5]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus speaks figuratively of a stream of silver.^[3][5]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it of a mountain torrent.^[3][5]
• Middle Ages – The diminutive ρυάκιον comes into use.^[7][4]
• Modern Greek – The diminutive survives as ρυάκι (ryáki), a brook.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rushing stream, mountain torrent; a gully cut by water.^[3][6]
2. A stream of lava from a volcano.^[3][6]
3. (figurative) A stream, flood (of silver).^[3]
4. (zoology) A duct through which milk flows, in dolphins and similar animals.^[3]

Related words

• ῥέω (rhéō)
• Modern Greek ρυάκι (ryáki)
• Latin rhyax

Usage notes

Hesychius glosses ῥύαξ as “helmet” and “tower”, meanings found in no other source.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)