καρκίνος Ancient Greek · revision 15581

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=6th century BC, Hipponax|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kar.kí.nos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /karˈci.nos/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /karˈci.nos/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''καρκῐ́νος''' (karkínos) ''m'' (genitive καρκῐ́νου); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is clearly connected with [[la|cancer|t=crab]] and [[sa|कर्कट|tr=karkaṭa|t=crab]], but not all the details are clear.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Like Latin cancer from [[m|la|*carcros]], it may have undergone a dissimilation of the /r/ sounds and then taken the suffix [[m|grc|-ινος|tr=-inos]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Πάπυρος) The connection with the Sanskrit word is doubted by Mayrhofer and Furnée.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ Beekes regards it as a substrate word, Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], like the adjective [[m|grc|κάρκαρος|tr=kárkaros]] with which Frisk thought it might be connected.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014)^(Wiktionary) Furnée compares the Sicilian gloss [[m|grc|κάρχαι|tr=kárkhai]] “crabs”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Wiktionary allows an Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*karkros]], but notes features pointing to a non-Indo-European origin.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first recorded uses are in Epicharmus and Hipponax, for the crab.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Sophocles, Aristophanes, Plato and Xenophon use it for the crab, and Aristotle distinguishes several species.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Aristophanes quotes the proverb “you will never make the crab walk straight”.^(LSJ 1940) By metaphor it named a pair of pincers or tongs (Euripides), a malignant tumour, a cancer (Demosthenes), a kind of shoe, and the constellation of the Crab.^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ Sanskrit [[m|sa|कर्किन्|tr=karkin|t=Cancer, the zodiac sign]] was borrowed from it.^(Beekes 2010) Modern Greek ''καρκίνος'' “crab” continues the ancient word, and ''καρκίνος'' “cancer” is a learned word with a Hellenistic sense.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th century BC – Hipponax uses it for the crab.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for tongs.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle distinguishes species of crab.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for a tumour.^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * Modern Greek – ''καρκίνος'' means crab and cancer.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|crab]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A pair of pincers, tongs.^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A malignant [[m|en|tumour]], [[m|en|cancer]].^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A kind of shoe.^(Beekes 2010)

+ # The constellation and zodiac sign Cancer.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[καρκίνωμα|tr=karkínōma]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|cancer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}