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 unknown, 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); see ῠ̔́στρῐξ (hŭ́strĭx).

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 Medieval) 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)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	ἡ θρῐ́ξhē thrĭ́x	τὼ τρῐ́χεtṑ trĭ́khe	αἱ τρῐ́χεςhai trĭ́khes
genitive	τῆς τρῐχόςtês trĭkhós	τοῖν τρῐχοῖνtoîn trĭkhoîn	τῶν τρῐχῶνtôn trĭkhôn
dative	τῇ τρῐχῐ́tēî trĭkhĭ́	τοῖν τρῐχοῖνtoîn trĭkhoîn	ταῖς θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́νtaîs thrĭxĭ́(n)
accusative	τὴν τρῐ́χᾰtḕn trĭ́khă	τὼ τρῐ́χεtṑ trĭ́khe	τᾱ̀ς τρῐ́χᾰςtā̀s trĭ́khăs
vocative	θρῐ́ξthrĭ́x	τρῐ́χεtrĭ́khe	τρῐ́χεςtrĭ́khes

• This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of θρῐ́ξ; τρῐχός (Epic)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	θρῐ́ξthrĭ́x	τρῐ́χεtrĭ́khe	τρῐ́χεςtrĭ́khes
genitive	τρῐχόςtrĭkhós	τρῐχοῖῐ̈νtrĭkhoîĭ̈n	τρῐχῶνtrĭkhôn
dative	τρῐχῐ́trĭkhĭ́	τρῐχοῖῐ̈νtrĭkhoîĭ̈n	θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν / τρῐ́χεσῐ / τρῐ́χεσῐν / τρῐ́χεσσῐ / τρῐ́χεσσῐνthrĭxĭ́(n) / trĭ́khesĭ(n) / trĭ́khessĭ(n)
accusative	τρῐ́χᾰtrĭ́khă	τρῐ́χεtrĭ́khe	τρῐ́χᾰςtrĭ́khăs
vocative	θρῐ́ξthrĭ́x	τρῐ́χεtrĭ́khe	τρῐ́χεςtrĭ́khes

• 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)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	ἡ θρῐ́ξhē thrĭ́x	τὼ τρῐ́χεtṑ trĭ́khe	αἱ τρῐ́χεςhai trĭ́khes
genitive	τῆς τρῐχόςtês trĭkhós	τοῖν τρῐχοῖνtoîn trĭkhoîn	τῶν τρῐχῶνtôn trĭkhôn
dative	τῇ τρῐχῐ́tēî trĭkhĭ́	τοῖν τρῐχοῖνtoîn trĭkhoîn	τῇσῐ / τῇσῐν θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́νtēîsĭ(n) thrĭxĭ́(n)
accusative	τὴν τρῐ́χᾰtḕn trĭ́khă	τὼ τρῐ́χεtṑ trĭ́khe	τᾱ̀ς τρῐ́χᾰςtā̀s trĭ́khăs
vocative	θρῐ́ξthrĭ́x	τρῐ́χεtrĭ́khe	τρῐ́χεςtrĭ́khes

• 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 when followed by /s/, resulting in *-χσ- (*-khs-) > *-κσ- (*-ks-) = -ξ- (-x-). As such, initial θ- (th-) remained aspirated in those cases, as Grassmann's law did not apply.

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, “pig hair^?; 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
• Strong, James (1979), “G2359”, in 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