σάρξ Ancient Greek · revision 2237

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *twerḱ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sárks/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈsarks/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈsarks/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''σᾰ́ρξ''' (sárx) ''f'' (genitive σᾰρκός); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Genitive σαρκός, Aeolic σύρξ, plural σύρκες.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ine-pro|*turḱ-s]], a zero-grade noun of the root [[m|ine-pro|*twerḱ-|t=to cut]], and so first “a piece cut off, a piece of meat”.^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010) Van Beek sets up Proto-Greek *tu̯r̥k-, and explains the Aeolic σύρξ as an o-grade *tu̯órk- raised by Cowgill's law.^(van Beek 2022)

+

+ There is no certain match outside Greek.^(Frisk 1960) The usual comparison, which Frisk thought well worth considering, is with the Avestan verb θβarəs-, “to cut” and also “to shape, create”; the sense would then be like that of Latin [[m|la|carō|t=flesh]], which belongs with [[κείρω|tr=keírō|t=to cut]].^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010) Lubotsky connects Old Irish [[m|sga|torc|t=boar]] with the same root.^(Beekes 2010) Albanian [[m|sq|shark|t=flesh of a fruit]] is a borrowing from σάρξ.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer uses it almost always in the plural: dogs are glutted with “fat and flesh”, and the ''Odyssey'' speaks of “entrails, flesh and bones”.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)^(Beekes 2010) The singular occurs once in the ''Odyssey''.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In tragedy it is flesh and also the whole body: Aeschylus describes a man with “an old mind but young flesh”, and in Euripides' ''Hippolytus'' a man prays that the earth may not receive his flesh.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) The body is set against the mind in Aeschylus and Euripides.^(CGL 2021) The Hippocratic writers describe flesh forming from the blood in the embryo, and inscriptions use the plural for portions of meat.^(LSJ 1940) The word also names the flesh of a fruit.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ In the Septuagint it renders the Hebrew word for flesh: meat, the body, the male member, and in πᾶσα σάρξ “all flesh”, all mankind.^(Lust 2003) The New Testament adds “flesh and blood” for a human being as against God and κατὰ σάρκα for merely human standards; in Paul the flesh is the seat of sin, and in John the flesh of Jesus is given in the Eucharist.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023) Spicq notes that the contrast of flesh with mind or spirit goes back to the classical writers.^(Spicq 1994)

+

+ Medieval vernacular Greek also had the form σάρκα, from the accusative.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998) In Modern Greek [[m|el|σάρκα|tr=sárka]] is the usual word for flesh, and σαρξ survives only in archaic phrases.^(Triantafyllidis 1998) Its compound [[σαρκοφάγος|tr=sarkophágos|t=flesh-eating]] named a stone said to consume corpses, whence Latin ''sarcophagus''.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' use the plural for flesh.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the body as against the mind.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th century BC – Hippocratic writers describe flesh forming in the embryo.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the singular and the plural alike.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Paul uses it for the flesh as the seat of sin.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Medieval period – The form σάρκα appears.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|flesh]] of a human or animal, and in the plural pieces of flesh or portions of meat.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The body as a whole.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # The flesh of a fruit.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Koine)'' πᾶσα σάρξ, all mankind; human nature; σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα, a mortal.^(CGL 2021)^(UBS 2023)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' The flesh as the seat of sin or of sexual desire.^(CGL 2021)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # ''(New Testament)'' The flesh of Jesus, in the Eucharist.^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Septuagint)'' The male member.^(Lust 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἄσαρκος|tr=ásarkos]]

+ * [[σαρκάζω|tr=sarkázō]]

+ * [[σαρκοφάγος|tr=sarkophágos]]

+ * [[σαρκασμός|tr=sarkasmós]]

+ * [[σάρκινος|tr=sárkinos]]

+ * [[σαρκικός|tr=sarkikós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|carō]]

+ * [[en|sarcasm]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}