κόγχη Ancient Greek · revision 2275

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=5th century BC, Empedocles|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kóŋ.kʰɛː/^(Wiktionary)

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

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈkoɲ.çi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''κόγχη''' (kónkhē) ''f'' (genitive κόγχης); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Also [[κόγχος|tr=kónkhos]] (masculine or feminine).^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Beekes takes it as probably Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]]: it is clearly cognate with [[κόχλος|tr=kókhlos]] “spiral shell, snail”, and the variation between the two (prenasalization), confirmed by variants such as κοκάλια, points to a substrate word.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Frisk, by contrast, regards κόγχος as an inherited word identical with [[sa|शङ्ख|tr=śaṅkhá|t=conch, mussel]].^(Frisk 1960) Beekes notes that no common pre-form can be reconstructed and that, if the comparison is right, it may be a shared loanword.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary) Etymonline gives both possibilities.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in Empedocles, and in the 5th century BC Epicharmus and Sophron also mention mussels.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ LSJ notes that it covered several species of mussel or cockle (Aristotle); opening a mussel was proverbial for an easy task (Teleclides), and something “worth a mussel shell” was worthless.^(LSJ 1940) As a measure it was a shell-full, a small unit of capacity (Pherecrates, Hippocrates, Theophrastus), and [[la|congius]] may come from this use.^(LSJ 1940)^(Frisk 1960)

+

+ By resemblance it named the hollow of the ear and the kneecap (Rufus, Pollux), the shell-case protecting the seal of a document (Aristophanes), a niche for a statue and an apse (inscriptions), and in Hero a quarter of a sphere.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) The diminutive [[κογχύλιον|tr=konkhúlion]] was a shellfish, including the purple-fish, whence [[κογχίζω|tr=konkhízō]] “to dye purple”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Suda)

+

+ [[la|concha]], conchȳlium and conchīta were borrowed from it, and [[en|conch]] comes through Latin.^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline) Medieval Greek used it for a recess, as in the apse of a church, and for a corner.^(Kriaras) [[el|κόγχη|tr=kónchi]] is learned, for cavities in the body, such as the eye socket and the nasal conchae, and for niches and apses.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – Empedocles and Sophron mention mussels.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for the shell-case of a seal.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

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

+ * 2nd century AD – Pollux uses it for the hollow of the ear and the kneecap.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * Early 15th century – English ''conch'', through Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|mussel]], [[m|en|cockle]] or [[m|en|clam]]; a conch.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A shell-full, a small measure of capacity.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' The hollow of the ear; the kneecap.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A shell-case protecting the seal of a document.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A niche for a statue; an [[m|en|apse]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+ # ''(geometry)'' A quarter of a sphere.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[κογχύλιον|tr=konkhúlion]]

+ * [[κογχίτης|tr=konkhítēs]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[κόγχος|tr=kónkhos]]

+ * [[κόχλος|tr=kókhlos]]

+ * [[la|concha]]

+ * [[en|conch]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}