ῥῖγος

Pronunciation

• 5th-century BC Attic: /r̥îː.ɡos/^[1]
• 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈri.ɣos/^[1]
• 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈri.ɣos/^[1]

Forms

ῥῖγος (rhîgos) n (genitive ῥῑ́γεος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sríHgos (“cold”),^[1][2] a neuter s-stem of the root *srei̯Hg- (“to freeze, shudder”).^[3] It corresponds exactly to Latin frīgus (“cold, frost, shivering”), and the verb ῥιγέω (rhīgéō) matches frīgeō (“to be cold”), though that match may be a parallel innovation.^[2] Babiniotis notes the view that the Latin noun was borrowed from Greek.^[4]

Within Greek the noun stands beside the perfect ἔρριγα (érrhiga) as γῆθος (gêthos) beside γέγηθα (gégētha), and beside the comparative ῥίγιον (rhī́gion) as ἄλγος (álgos) beside ἄλγιον (álgion).^[2] The grammarian Herodian (2nd century AD) derived it from φρίσσω (phríssō) “to shiver”, through a supposed ⟨φρῖγος⟩ that lost its /ph/.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Odyssey (5.472), for the cold.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose it is the cold that the body suffers, often paired with hunger (Plato, Xenophon), and Xenophon has the plural for spells of cold and heat.^[8][9] Plato uses it for shivering, and the Hippocratic writers for the shivering fit that comes with fever; a 3rd-century AD papyrus has it in the same sense.^[8][9]

Modern Greek ρίγος (rígos) is a learned revival: an involuntary shiver from cold or fever, and by extension a thrill of strong emotion.^[10][4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey uses it for cold.^[7][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for cold.^[8][6]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it for a shivering fit, as in ague.^[8][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato pairs it with hunger and uses it for shivering;^[8] Xenophon has the plural, cold spells.^[8][9][6]
• 2nd century AD – Herodian derives it from the verb “to shiver”.^[5][6]
• 3rd century AD – A papyrus uses it for a shivering fit.^[8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek ρίγος (rígos) is revived as a learned word for a shiver.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Frost, cold, as felt by the body; in the plural, cold spells.^[8][9]
2. Shivering.^[8][9]
3. (medicine) A shivering fit, rigor, as in ague.^[8]

Word family

• ῥιγέω (rhīgéō)
• ῥίγιον (rhī́gion)
• ῥιγόω (rhigóō)
• ἔρριγα (érrhiga)

Related words

• Latin frīgus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ a b Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
6. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki