ὄνυξ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-.

Cognates include Latin unguis, Old Irish inga, Sanskrit नख (nakhá, “claw, nail”), Old Armenian եղունգն (ełungn), Persian ناخن (nâxon), Old Church Slavonic ногъть (nogŭtĭ), Lithuanian nagas, Albanian nyell, and Old English næġl (English nail).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ó.nyks/ → /ˈo.nyks/ → /ˈo.niks/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ó.nyks/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈo.nyks/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.nyks/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈo.nyks/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈo.niks/

Noun

ὄνῠξ • (ónux) m (genitive ὄνῠχος); third declension

1. claw, nail, hoof
2. Anything which resembles a claw or nail
   1. scraping tool
   2. onyx (gem)
   3. a kind of aromatic substance

Declension

Third declension of ὁ ὄνῠξ; τοῦ ὄνῠχος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ὄνῠξ ho ónux	τὼ ὄνῠχε tṑ ónukhe	οἱ ὄνῠχες hoi ónukhes
Genitive	τοῦ ὄνῠχος toû ónukhos	τοῖν ὀνῠ́χοιν toîn onúkhoin	τῶν ὀνῠ́χων tôn onúkhōn
Dative	τῷ ὄνῠχῐ tôi ónukhi	τοῖν ὀνῠ́χοιν toîn onúkhoin	τοῖς ὄνῠξῐ / ὄνῠξῐν toîs ónuxi(n)
Accusative	τὸν ὄνῠχᾰ tòn ónukha	τὼ ὄνῠχε tṑ ónukhe	τοὺς ὄνῠχᾰς toùs ónukhas
Vocative	ὄνῠξ ónux	ὄνῠχε ónukhe	ὄνῠχες ónukhes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• εἰς ὄνῠχᾰ (eis ónukha)
• ὀνύχινος (onúkhinos)
• ὀνύχιον (onúkhion)
• σαρδόνῠξ (sardónux)

Descendants

• English: onyx, onycho-
• Greek: νύχι (nýchi)
• Latin: onyx
• Russian: о́никс (óniks)

See also

• ἧλος (hêlos)

References

• “ὄνυξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ὄνυξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ὄνυξ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ὄνυξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ὄνυξ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “ὄνυξ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • claw idem, page 136.
  • nail idem, page 550.
  • talon idem, page 854.