φολκός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally supposed to be related to φάλος (phálos, “horn of a helmet”) and connected with Sanskrit ह्वरते (hvarate, “to diverge, to go crooked”). However, Furnée assumes that this word is identical with *βολκός (*bolkós) of Βόλκων (Bólkōn, “name of a Syracusan”); in that case, the variation "φ-/β-" would point to a Pre-Greek origin.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pʰol.kós/ → /ɸolˈkos/ → /folˈkos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pʰol.kós/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /pʰolˈkos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ɸolˈkos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /folˈkos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /folˈkos/

Adjective

φολκός • (pholkós)

1. epithet of Thersites, perhaps meaning bandy-legged

References

• “φολκός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• φολκός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN