κάρφω

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Ancient Greek

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Etymology

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Apparently from a Proto-Indo-European *(s)krebʰ- (to wither, warp, stiffen), which Frisk considers sound-symbolic, with cognates in Balto-Slavic and Germanic including Russian коро́бить (koróbitʹ, to bend, warp), Lithuanian skrèbti (to get stiff), Old Norse skorpna (to writhe, wither). However, the consistent α-vocalism of the Greek words is problematic; based on this, Beekes derives the Greek word from Pre-Greek. It is still possible that the Balto-Slavic and Germanic terms are cognate with the Greek, whether via borrowing from a common substrate source, or via irregular sound changes from *(s)krebʰ- which are not particularly unusual for sound-symbolic roots, as Frisk notes.[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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κᾰ́ρφω (kárphō)

  1. to dry up, wither, shrivel

Inflection

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κάρφω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 651-2

Further reading

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