οὐρά Ancient Greek · revision 2346

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *h₁ers-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''οὐρᾱ́''' (ourā́) ''f'' (genitive οὐρᾶς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ionic [[οὐρή|tr=ourḗ]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[inh|ine-pro|*h₁ers-|t=tail]], through a Greek form *ὀρσά: οὐρά stands beside [[ὄρρος|tr=órrhos]] “rump” as [[κουρά|tr=kourá]] stands beside κόρρη.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) The closest cognate is [[sga|err|t=tail]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Reconstructions with *-σι̯- or *-σϝ- are unnecessary.^(Frisk 1960)^(Beekes 2010) Wiktionary also gives the alternative reconstruction [[m|ine-pro|*h₃érsos|t=backside]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Beekes notes that the derivative [[οὐραχός|tr=ourakhós]] has a suffix that is probably Pre-Greek, and that the stranger [[οὐρίαχος|tr=ouríakhos]] “butt-end of a spear” might even point to a Pre-Greek origin of the word for “tail” itself, unless the two are unrelated.^(Beekes 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer uses it for the tail of a lion lashing its flanks, of a dog wagging its tail, and of the wolves and lions round Circe's house that fawn with their long tails.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hesiod, Herodotus and Aristotle use it for the tails of other animals, though not of birds.^(LSJ 1940) From Xenophon on it is also the rear or rearguard of an army: κατ’ οὐράν “in the rear”, and Polybius speaks of attacking in the rear; in the tactical writers Aelian and Arrian it is the left wing of a phalanx.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(Frisk 1960) Sophocles used it for the penis, as Hesychius also records from Eupolis.^(LSJ 1940)^(Hesychius)

+

+ In the Septuagint “head and tail” stand for the high and the low in society, and in Revelation the locusts have tails like scorpions.^(Lust 2003)^(BDAG 2000) Medieval Greek had the forms νουρά, ορά and ούρα, for the tail of animals, birds, fish, insects and snakes and the back of anything.^(Kriaras) A separate medieval ουρά, a form of address meaning “lord”, is probably a loan translation of Turkish tuğ, the horse-tail standard of Ottoman officials.^(Kriaras) It continues as [[el|ουρά|tr=ourá]], with phrases such as putting one's tail between one's legs.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ [[σκίουρος|tr=skíouros]], the source of [[en|squirrel]], is often explained as “shadow-tail”, from σκιά and οὐρά, but Beekes considers this a folk etymology.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – the tails of a lion and a dog.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it of other animals.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Xenophon uses it for the rearguard of an army.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 2nd century BC – Polybius has κατ’ οὐρὰν προσπίπτειν, “to attack in the rear”.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – Revelation: locusts with tails like scorpions.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * Medieval Greek – νουρά, ορά and ούρα.^(Kriaras)

+ * Modern Greek – ουρά.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|tail]] of an animal or mythical creature.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The [[m|en|rearguard]] or rear of an army; the rear rank.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(tactics)'' The left wing of a phalanx.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(euphemistic)'' The [[m|en|penis]].^(LSJ 1940)^(Hesychius)

+ # ''(poetic)'' The echo of a word.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[κόλουρος|tr=kólouros]]

+ * [[οὐραχός|tr=ourakhós]]

+ * [[οὐροβόρος|tr=ourobóros]]

+ * [[σκίουρος|tr=skíouros]]

+ * [[οὐραγός|tr=ouragós]]

+ * [[οὐραῖος|tr=ouraîos]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ὄρρος|tr=órrhos]]

+ * [[en|squirrel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}