ἶυγξ Ancient Greek · revision 3220

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=6th–5th century BC, Pindar|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ἶυγξ''' (îunx), also ἴυγξ, ''f'' (genitive ἴυγγος); third declension^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]]: its suffix ⟨-υγγ-⟩ is typical of the substrate, and it was “without a doubt” a loanword adapted by folk etymology to [[ἰύζω|tr=iúzō|t=to cry aloud]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Frisk thought it was named from that verb, after the bird's cry, though perhaps reshaping a foreign word; it is formed like other names of birds and instruments such as [[σύριγξ|tr=súrinx]].^(Frisk 1960) The CGL, too, calls it perhaps related to ἰύζω.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Pindar's fourth ''Pythian'' has the wryneck bound to a four-spoked wheel as a love charm.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) In the ''Persians'' Aeschylus uses it for a passionate yearning for lost comrades.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The bird was tied to a spinning wheel during spells to win back a lost lover, and so the word came to mean the magic wheel itself and any charm: the refrain of Theocritus' second ''Idyll'' is “wryneck, draw that man to my house”.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Xenophon and Aristophanes use it for the power of attraction.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Aristotle describes the bird.^(LSJ 1940) Hesychius explains that the bird was useful for sorcery and that Aphrodite herself used it.^(Hesychius)

+

+ In the Neoplatonists Proclus and Damascius the ''iunges'' are divine powers of the “Chaldaean” theology.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010) Latin borrowed it as ''iynx'', and English took ''jynx'' “wryneck” from Modern Latin in the 1640s, and the sense “charm, spell” in the 1690s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Pindar describes the wryneck on the magic wheel.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for yearning.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle describes the bird.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Theocritus uses it as a refrain in a love spell.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th century AD – Proclus uses it for “Chaldaean” divine powers.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1640s – English borrows ''jynx'' for the wryneck.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|wryneck]], ''Jynx torquilla''.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A magic wheel to which the wryneck was bound; a love [[m|en|charm]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A spell, attraction; passionate yearning.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Neoplatonism, plural)'' Divine powers of the “Chaldaean” theology.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ἰύζω|tr=iúzō]]

+ * [[en|jinx]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}