Ancient Greek words from Pre-Greek
13 Ancient Greek words with Pre-Greek in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
ἀλκυών
The origin is unknown. Beekes thinks it probably a loan from a non-Indo-European language, from Pre-Greek, citing Furnée on substrate words in -ων, and the DGE suggests a Mediterranean loan. For the…
ἀμυγδάλη
It is a typical substrate word, from Pre-Greek, according to Beekes and the DGE. The interchange of -γδ- with -σγ- (ἀμυσγέλα) is a Pre-Greek feature, and the Homeric epithet of Lemnos ἀμιχθαλόεσσα…
ἄνθρωπος
Its origin is disputed; none of the many proposals is decisive. Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, because no Indo-European explanation has been found; he sees in it the Pre-Greek suffix…
θησαυρός
It has no etymology. Beekes regards it as a technical term borrowed from Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, and its shape suggests a pre-form in *-arw-. Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as…
κόγχη
Beekes takes it as probably Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: it is clearly cognate with κόχλος (kókhlos) “spiral shell, snail”, and the variation between the two (prenasalization), confirmed by variants…
μάρτυς
Its origin is disputed. Frisk started from a verbal noun *μάρ-τυ-, “testimony”, which then came to mean “witness”, as French témoin comes from Latin testimōnium and English witness first meant…
νύμφη
Its origin is disputed. It has long been compared with Latin nūbō (“to marry”) and Old Church Slavonic снубити (snubiti, “to love, court”), from Proto-Indo-European *sneubʰ-, a connection LIV still…
ὄστρακον
It was traditionally explained as a formation in -ακο- from an r-stem ὀστ-ρ-, also seen in ὄστρεον (óstreon, “oyster”), alternating with the stem of ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”) and Sanskrit अस्थि…
πέρδιξ
Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek, since he takes the suffix -ῑκ- to be a substrate suffix. The traditional explanation, given by Frisk, derives it with the suffix -ικ- from πέρδομαι…
σέλινον
It has no acceptable etymology and is probably a foreign word, like κύμινον (kúminon) and ῥητίνη (rhētínē). Beekes marks it as possibly Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek. Strömberg connected it with σέλμα…
σῦκον
Like Latin fīcus and Old Armenian թուզ (tʻuz), it is a borrowing from an unknown Mediterranean or Anatolian language. Beekes considers this source Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: the Boeotian form τῦκον…
ὑάκινθος
It is clearly Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: it has the Pre-Greek suffix -ινθ-, and the Cretan forms with ϝακ- and βακ- point to an initial Pre-Greek *w- rather than a prothetic u-. Frisk calls it an…
φάλαγξ
Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: it is formed like φάραγξ (pháranx), σῆραγξ (sêranx) and φάρυγξ (phárunx), and the prenasalized suffix -αγγ- proves a Pre-Greek origin. PHILOGLOSSA…