θρίξ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Unknown; often compared with the second element of Middle Irish gairb-driuch (“bristle”) and Lithuanian drikà (“threads hanging from the loom”), though Beekes rejects both connections and leaves the origin open, noting that the semantic roots used to express the concept of "hair" vary significantly across Indo-European branches. Alternatively Pre-Greek (though Beekes surprisingly does not posit such a theory).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /tʰríks/ → /ˈθriks/ → /ˈθriks/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tʰríks/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰriks/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈθriks/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈθriks/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈθriks/

Noun

θρῐ́ξ • (thrĭ́x) f (genitive τρῐχός); third declension

1. hair

Declension

• Initial θ- (th-) of the nominative singular becomes τ- (t-) in most other cases.

Third declension of ἡ θρῐ́ξ; τῆς τρῐχός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ θρῐ́ξ hē thrĭ́x	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	αἱ τρῐ́χες hai trĭ́khes
Genitive	τῆς τρῐχός tês trĭkhós	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	τῶν τρῐχῶν tôn trĭkhôn
Dative	τῇ τρῐχῐ́ tēî trĭkhĭ́	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	ταῖς θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν taîs thrĭxĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὴν τρῐ́χᾰ tḕn trĭ́khă	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	τᾱ̀ς τρῐ́χᾰς tā̀s trĭ́khăs
Vocative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of θρῐ́ξ; τρῐχός (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Genitive	τρῐχός trĭkhós	τρῐχοῖῐ̈ν trĭkhoîĭ̈n	τρῐχῶν trĭkhôn
Dative	τρῐχῐ́ trĭkhĭ́	τρῐχοῖῐ̈ν trĭkhoîĭ̈n	θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν / τρῐ́χεσῐ / τρῐ́χεσῐν / τρῐ́χεσσῐ / τρῐ́χεσσῐν thrĭxĭ́(n) / trĭ́khesĭ(n) / trĭ́khessĭ(n)
Accusative	τρῐ́χᾰ trĭ́khă	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χᾰς trĭ́khăs
Vocative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Third declension of ἡ θρῐ́ξ; τῆς τρῐχός (Ionic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ θρῐ́ξ hē thrĭ́x	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	αἱ τρῐ́χες hai trĭ́khes
Genitive	τῆς τρῐχός tês trĭkhós	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	τῶν τρῐχῶν tôn trĭkhôn
Dative	τῇ τρῐχῐ́ tēî trĭkhĭ́	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	τῇσῐ / τῇσῐν θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν tēîsĭ(n) thrĭxĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὴν τρῐ́χᾰ tḕn trĭ́khă	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	τᾱ̀ς τρῐ́χᾰς tā̀s trĭ́khăs
Vocative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

• Underlying stem θρῐχ- (thrĭkh-) emerges as τρῐχ- (trĭkh-) in most cases due to the operation of Grassmann's law, which states that the aspirated consonants θ (th) φ (ph) χ (kh) deaspirate to τ (t) π (p) κ (k) if the next syllable also starts with an aspirated consonant.
• When a case ending starts with -σ- (-s-), the stem instead emerges as θρῐξ- (thrĭx-, = *θρῐχ- (*thrĭkh-) + -σ- (-s-)), because aspirated consonants deaspirate before /s/, resulting in *-χσ- (*-khs-) > *-κσ- (*-ks-) = -ξ- (-x-). This in turn allows initial θ- (th-) to remain aspirated, since Grassmann's law no longer applies.

Derived terms

• θρίσσα (thríssa)
• θρισσίον (thrissíon)
• κᾰλλῐ́θρῐξ (kăllĭ́thrĭx)
• μελᾰ́νθρῐξ (melắnthrĭx)
• οὐλόθριξ (oulóthrix)
• ὀφῐόθρῐξ (ophĭóthrĭx)
• τρῐχᾰ́ς (trĭkhắs)
• τριχία (trikhía)
• τριχίας (trikhías)
• τριχίασις (trikhíasis)
• τριχιάω (trikhiáō)
• τριχίδιον (trikhídion)
• τρῐ́χῐνος (trĭ́khĭnos)
• τρίχιον (tríkhion)
• τριχίς (trikhís)
• τριχισμός (trikhismós)
• τριχῖτις (trikhîtis)
• τρῐχομᾰνές (trĭkhomănés)
• τριχόφυλλος (trikhóphullos)
• τριχόω (trikhóō)
• τριχώδης (trikhṓdēs)
• τρῐ́χωμᾰ (trĭ́khōmă)
• τριχωμάτιον (trikhōmátion)
• τρίχωσις (tríkhōsis)
• τριχωτός (trikhōtós)
• ὕστριξ (hústrix, “porcupine”) (disputed)

Descendants

• Greek: τρίχα (trícha)
• → New Latin: trichechus m
  • → Italian: tricheco m
• → English: tricho-, -trichous

Further reading

• “θρίξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• θρίξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• θρίξ in Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Max Sengebusch, editor, Handwörterbuch der griechischen Sprache‎^[1] (in German), 3rd edition, Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn
• θρίξ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “θρίξ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• “θρίξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• G2359 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[2], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • fur idem, page 350.
  • hair idem, page 380.
• θρίξ, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011