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 open, noting that the semantic roots used to express the concept of "hair" vary significantly across Indo-European branches.^[1] Alternatively Pre-Greek (though Beekes surprisingly does not posit such a theory).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tʰríks/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰriks/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈθriks/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈθriks/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈθriks/

Noun

θρῐ́ξ • (thrĭ́x) f (genitive τρῐχός); third declension

hair

Declension

Initial θ- (th-) of the nominative singular becomes τ- (t-) in most other cases.

Third declension of ἡ θρῐ́ξ; τῆς τρῐχός (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ θρῐ́ξ hē thrĭ́x	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	αἱ τρῐ́χες hai trĭ́khes
Genitive	τῆς τρῐχός tês trĭkhós	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	τῶν τρῐχῶν tôn trĭkhôn
Dative	τῇ τρῐχῐ́ tēî trĭkhĭ́	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	ταῖς θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν taîs thrĭxĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὴν τρῐ́χᾰ tḕn trĭ́khă	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	τᾱ̀ς τρῐ́χᾰς tā̀s trĭ́khăs
Vocative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of θρῐ́ξ; τρῐχός (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Genitive	τρῐχός trĭkhós	τρῐχοῖῐ̈ν trĭkhoîĭ̈n	τρῐχῶν trĭkhôn
Dative	τρῐχῐ́ trĭkhĭ́	τρῐχοῖῐ̈ν trĭkhoîĭ̈n	θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν / τρῐ́χεσῐ / τρῐ́χεσῐν / τρῐ́χεσσῐ / τρῐ́χεσσῐν thrĭxĭ́(n) / trĭ́khesĭ(n) / trĭ́khessĭ(n)
Accusative	τρῐ́χᾰ trĭ́khă	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χᾰς trĭ́khăs
Vocative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Notes:	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)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ θρῐ́ξ hē thrĭ́x	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	αἱ τρῐ́χες hai trĭ́khes
Genitive	τῆς τρῐχός tês trĭkhós	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	τῶν τρῐχῶν tôn trĭkhôn
Dative	τῇ τρῐχῐ́ tēî trĭkhĭ́	τοῖν τρῐχοῖν toîn trĭkhoîn	τῇσῐ / τῇσῐν θρῐξῐ́ / θρῐξῐ́ν tēîsĭ(n) thrĭxĭ́(n)
Accusative	τὴν τρῐ́χᾰ tḕn trĭ́khă	τὼ τρῐ́χε tṑ trĭ́khe	τᾱ̀ς τρῐ́χᾰς tā̀s trĭ́khăs
Vocative	θρῐ́ξ thrĭ́x	τρῐ́χε trĭ́khe	τρῐ́χες trĭ́khes
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Underlying root 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), respectively, if the next syllable also starts with an aspirated consonant, resulting in *θρῐχ- (*thrĭkh-) > τρῐχ- (trĭkh-).
By contrast, when case endings start with -σ- (-s-), the root emerges as θρῐξ- (thrĭx-, from *θρῐκ- (*thrĭk-, emergent stem) + -σ- (-s-)), because aspirated consonants deaspirate when clustered with /s/, resulting in *-χσ- (*-khs-) > *-κσ- (*-ks-) = -ξ- (-x-), which in turn alllows θ- (th-) to emerge with its aspiration intact, since Grassmann's law no longer applies.

Derived terms

καλλίθριξ (kallíthrix)
μελᾰ́νθρῐξ (melắnthrĭx)
τρῐχᾰ́ς (trĭkhắs)
τρίχινος (tríkhinos)
τριχομανές (trikhomanés)
τρίχωμα (tríkhōma)

Descendants

Greek: τρίχα (trícha)
→ New Latin: trichechus m
- → Italian: tricheco m
→ English: tricho-, -trichous

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “θρίξ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 556

“θρίξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“θρίξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“θρίξ”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
θρίξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
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
θρίξ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
G2359 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.
- 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

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “θρίξ”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 556

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