iynx

Forms

iynx f (genitive iyngis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἴυγξ (íunx, “wryneck”).^[2][3][1][4] Beekes takes the Greek word to be a loanword, probably Pre-Greek, that was adapted by folk etymology to ἰύζω (iúzō, “to cry aloud”); it had been connected with that verb after the bird's cry.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Laevius names the wryneck in a list of love charms, a fragment quoted by Apuleius.^[3][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The bird was used in spells by which slighted lovers hoped to win back affection,^[3] and in Greek the word itself had come to mean a charm.^[5] Pliny the Elder notes that it is the only bird with two claws on each side of the foot.^[6]

Through New Latin jynx it entered English, first for the bird and then for a charm or spell;^[7] English jinx probably goes back to it.^[7]

Timeline

• 2nd/1st century BC – Laevius lists it among love charms.^[3][6][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the bird's claws.^[6][3][4]
• 1640s – English takes it over as jynx, “wryneck”.^[7]
• 1690s – English jynx is used for a charm or spell.^[7]
• 1911 – English jinx, perhaps from it, appears in American baseball slang.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The wryneck, a climbing bird used in love charms.^[2][3]

Related words

• English jinx

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com