σῦκον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

τῦκον (tûkon) — Boeotian

Etymology

Since long, connected with Latin fīcus and Old Armenian թուզ (tʻuz), and considered a borrowing from a Mediterranean (Pre-Greek) or Anatolian substrate source,^[1] from which Hebrew שִׁקְמָה (šiqmā́, “sycamore fig”) – borrowed into συκάμινος (sukáminos) – and possibly Proto-Slavic *tyky (“gourd”) are also adduced. Martirosyan reconstructs a Mediterranean proto-form *tʰuōiḱo- or *tʰū(i)ḱo- (“fig”),^[2] Beekes suggests *tʲuk-. The use of words for fruits (fig, plum etc.) in the sense of “vulva” is very common cross-linguistically.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sŷː.kon/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.kon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.kon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.kon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.kon/

Noun

σῦκον • (sûkon) n (genitive σῡ́κου); second declension

fig, the fruit of the συκῆ (sukê)
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.121
- 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.40
a large wart on the eyelids
- 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 1247, (Compare Hippocrates of Kos, Epidemics 3.1085)
1. hemorrhoids
vulva
- 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 1349, (Compare 1346)

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ σῦκον; τοῦ σῡ́κου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ σῦκον tò sûkon	τὼ σῡ́κω tṑ sū́kō	τᾰ̀ σῦκᾰ tằ sûkă
Genitive	τοῦ σῡ́κου toû sū́kou	τοῖν σῡ́κοιν toîn sū́koin	τῶν σῡ́κων tôn sū́kōn
Dative	τῷ σῡ́κῳ tôi sū́kōi	τοῖν σῡ́κοιν toîn sū́koin	τοῖς σῡ́κοις toîs sū́kois
Accusative	τὸ σῦκον tò sûkon	τὼ σῡ́κω tṑ sū́kō	τᾰ̀ σῦκᾰ tằ sûkă
Vocative	σῦκον sûkon	σῡ́κω sū́kō	σῦκᾰ sûkă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

βούσῡκον (boúsūkon)
σῡ́κινος (sū́kinos)
σῡκοφᾰ́ντης (sūkophắntēs)
σῡκόμορος (sūkómoros, “fig-mulberry”)
σῡκοτρᾰ́γος (sūkotrắgos)
σῡκόφῠλλον (sūkóphŭllon)
σῡκών (sūkṓn)
βασίλεια σῦκον (basíleia sûkon)
σῡκέᾱ (sūkéā)

Related terms

συκῆ (sukê)

Descendants

Greek: σύκο (sýko)
→ Latin: syconus
- → English: syconus
- → Portuguese: sícono

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σῦκον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1421
^ Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) “t‘uz”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, pages 295-6

“σῦκον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
σῦκον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
σῦκον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
G4810 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- fig idem, page 318.
Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 23
Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎^[2] (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 274–280
Martirosyan, Hrach (2013) “The place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family: the relationship with Greek and Indo-Iranian”, in Journal of Language Relationship‎^[3], number 10, § 6.4.4., page 117

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σῦκον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1421

[2] Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) “t‘uz”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, pages 295-6

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