χρέμψ

Ancient Greek

Etymology

According to Strömberg, it could be a back-formation from the verb χρέμπτομαι (khrémptomai, “to clear one's throat”). Beekes proposes a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”), a root found in other fish names, such as χρέμης (khrémēs) and χρόμις (khrómis), and in the verb χρεμετίζω (khremetízō, “to neigh, whinny”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰrémps/ → /xremps/ → /xremps/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰrémps/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kʰremps/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /xremps/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /xremps/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /xremps/

Noun

χρέμψ • (khrémps)

1. kind of fish mentioned by Aristotle

Further reading

• “χρέμψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• χρέμψ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χρεμετίζω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1647