κόκκυξ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *kókkūks, eventually from the same onomatopoeic root of κόκκῡ (kókkū, “cry of the cuckoo”) and κοκκύζω (kokkúzō, “to cry cuckoo”). Compare also English cuckoo, Latin cucūlus (“cuckoo”) and Greek κούκος (koúkos, “cuckoo”), which are all onomatopoeias.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kók.kyːks/ → /ˈko.cyks/ → /ˈko.ciks/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kók.kyːks/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkok.kyks/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈko.cyks/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈko.cyks/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈko.ciks/

Noun

κόκκῡξ • (kókkūx) m (genitive κόκκῡγος); third declension

1. cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
2. red gurnard (Chelidonichthys cuculus)
3. fig that ripens early
4. tailbone, coccyx
5. mark on a horse's shoulder

Declension

Third declension of ὁ κόκκῡξ; τοῦ κόκκῡγος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κόκκῡξ ho kókkūx	τὼ κόκκῡγε tṑ kókkūge	οἱ κόκκῡγες hoi kókkūges
Genitive	τοῦ κόκκῡγος toû kókkūgos	τοῖν κοκκῡ́γοιν toîn kokkū́goin	τῶν κοκκῡ́γων tôn kokkū́gōn
Dative	τῷ κόκκῡγῐ tōî kókkūgĭ	τοῖν κοκκῡ́γοιν toîn kokkū́goin	τοῖς κόκκῡξῐ / κόκκῡξῐν toîs kókkūxĭ(n)
Accusative	τὸν κόκκῡγᾰ tòn kókkūgă	τὼ κόκκῡγε tṑ kókkūge	τοὺς κόκκῡγᾰς toùs kókkūgăs
Vocative	κόκκῡξ kókkūx	κόκκῡγε kókkūge	κόκκῡγες kókkūges
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• κοκκυγέα (kokkugéa)
• κοκκυγία (kokkugía)
• Κοκκύγιον (Kokkúgion)
• κοκκῠ́μηλον (kokkŭ́mēlon)
• Νεφελοκοκκυγία (Nephelokokkugía)

Descendants

• → Latin: coccyx (see there for further descendants)

References

• “κόκκυξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κόκκυξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κόκκυξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • cuckoo idem, page 188.
• 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