Etymologically
Log in

tigris

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 04:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtɪ.ɡrɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtiː.ɡris][1]

Forms

tigris m (genitive tigris or tigridis); third declension[1] The genitive is tigris or tigridis; the OLD gives it as feminine, sometimes masculine.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris, “tiger”).[2][4][1] Wiktionary takes the Greek word to be probably of Indo-Iranian origin,[1] and Köbler compares the word for arrow in Avestan.[5] Isidore of Seville says the tiger was named for its swift flight, since the Persians and Medes call an arrow by this word, and that the river Tigris was named after the animal for its speed.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Varro.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the tiger: Virgil has Armenian and Hyrcanian tigers.[3] By metonymy it is a tiger skin, in Valerius Flaccus and Statius.[2] It was also given as a name to other animals: Ovid has a hound called Tigris, and Juvenal mocks lazy dogs named Leopard, Tiger or Lion.[2] Isidore calls it a beast marked with varied spots, wonderful for its strength and speed, bred mostly in Hyrcania.[6] Church Latin keeps it as tiger,[7] and Wiktionary notes the poetic sense tigress.[1]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses the word.[5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of Armenian and Hyrcanian tigers.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a hound named Tigris.[2][5]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a tiger skin.[2][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains the name from a word for arrow.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tiger;[2][3][1][7] (poetic) a tigress.[2][3][1][7]
  2. A tiger skin.[2][1]
  3. A name given to other animals, especially dogs.[2]

Word family

  • tigrifer
  • tigrīnus

Usage notes

The river Tigris has the same name, Tigris, genitive Tigris or Tigridis (masculine), in Varro, Horace, Mela and Pliny the Elder.[2][3] Etymonline derives the river's name from an Iranian source akin to words for arrow, probably from the swiftness of its current.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com