σῦκον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• τῦκον (tûkon) — Boeotian

Etymology

Since long, connected with Latin fīcus and Old Armenian թուզ (tʻuz), and considered a borrowing from a Mediterranean (Pre-Greek) or Anatolian substrate source, from which Hebrew שִׁקְמָה (šiqmā́, “sycamore fig”) – borrowed into συκάμινος (sukáminos) – and possibly Proto-Slavic *tyky (“gourd”) are also adduced. Martirosyan reconstructs a Mediterranean proto-form *tʰuōiḱo- or *tʰū(i)ḱo- (“fig”). The use of words for fruits (fig, plum etc.) in the sense of “vulva” is very common cross-linguistically.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /sŷː.kon/ → /ˈsy.kon/ → /ˈsi.kon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sŷː.kon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.kon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.kon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.kon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.kon/

Noun

σῦκον • (sûkon) n (genitive σῡ́κου); second declension

1. fig, the fruit of the συκῆ (sukê)
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.121
   • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.40
2. a large wart on the eyelids
   • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 1247, (Compare Hippocrates, Epidemics 3.1085)
   1. hemorrhoids
3. vulva
   • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 1349, (Compare 1346)

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ σῦκον; τοῦ σῡ́κου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ σῦκον tò sûkon	τὼ σῡ́κω tṑ sū́kō	τᾰ̀ σῦκᾰ tà sûka
Genitive	τοῦ σῡ́κου toû sū́kou	τοῖν σῡ́κοιν toîn sū́koin	τῶν σῡ́κων tôn sū́kōn
Dative	τῷ σῡ́κῳ tôi sū́kōi	τοῖν σῡ́κοιν toîn sū́koin	τοῖς σῡ́κοις toîs sū́kois
Accusative	τὸ σῦκον tò sûkon	τὼ σῡ́κω tṑ sū́kō	τᾰ̀ σῦκᾰ tà sûka
Vocative	σῦκον sûkon	σῡ́κω sū́kō	σῦκᾰ sûka
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• βούσῡκον (boúsūkon)
• σῡ́κινος (sū́kinos)
• σῡκοφᾰ́ντης (sūkophántēs)
• σῡκόμορος (sūkómoros, “fig-mulberry”)
• σῡκοτρᾰ́γος (sūkotrágos)
• σῡκόφῠλλον (sūkóphullon)
• σῡκών (sūkṓn)
• βασίλεια σῦκον (basíleia sûkon)
• σῡκέᾱ (sūkéā)

Related terms

• συκῆ (sukê)

Descendants

• Greek: σύκο (sýko)
• → Latin: syconus
  • → English: syconus
  • → Portuguese: sícono

See also

• νικύλεον (nikúleon)

Further reading

• “σῦκον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• σῦκον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• σῦκον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G4810 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • fig idem, page 318.
• Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 23
• Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎^[2] (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 274–280
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2013) “The place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family: the relationship with Greek and Indo-Iranian”, in Journal of Language Relationship‎^[3], number 10, § 6.4.4., page 117