Λίγυς

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The name is of uncertain origin. Room suggests an Etruscan, Basque, or other language isolate ethnonym, hinted by the -sc- element found in older Latin forms ligusc*; Compare Latin Vascones and Etruscus.

Imberciadori more recently connects it with Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyg- (“to smear, make smooth”), deriving possessive *(s)lig-wés- / *(s)lig-us- (“bright”) through an internally derived s-stem *(s)léig-us (“brightness”), from the semantics of Proto-Indo-European *(s)léyg-u- / *(s)lig-éw- (“flat, even; equal”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /lí.ɡys/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ɡys/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ʝys/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ʝys/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ʝis/

Noun

Λῐ́γῠς • (Lígus) m (genitive Λῐ́γῠος); third declension

one of the Ligures; a Ligurian
an inhabitant of Liguria; a Ligurian

Inflection

Third declension of ὁ Λῐ́γῠς; τοῦ Λῐ́γῠος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ Λῐ́γῠς ho Lígus	τὼ Λῐ́γῠε tṑ Lígue	οἱ Λῐ́γῠες hoi Lígues
Genitive	τοῦ Λῐ́γῠος toû Líguos	τοῖν Λῐγῠ́οιν toîn Ligúoin	τῶν Λῐγῠ́ων tôn Ligúōn
Dative	τῷ Λῐ́γῠῐ̈ / Λῐ́γυι tôi Líguï / Lígui	τοῖν Λῐγῠ́οιν toîn Ligúoin	τοῖς Λῐ́γῠσῐ / Λῐ́γῠσῐν toîs Lígusi(n)
Accusative	τὸν Λῐ́γῠν tòn Lígun	τὼ Λῐ́γῠε tṑ Lígue	τοὺς Λῐ́γῡς / Λῐ́γῠᾰς toùs Lígūs / Líguas
Vocative	Λῐ́γῠ Lígu	Λῐ́γῠε Lígue	Λῐ́γῠες Lígues
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

Λῐγῠστῐκός (Ligustikós)
Λῐγῠστῐκή (Ligustikḗ)
Λῐ́γῠστῐς (Lígustis)

Descendants

Greek: Λίγυς (Lígys)

References

“Λίγυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“Λίγυς”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,015
Room, Adrian (2006): Place Names of the World, 2nd ed., McFarland & Co.,
Imberciadori, Giulio: The Bright Ligurians, in: Beiträge zur Namenforschung, Volume 57, Issue 1 (2022), pp. 81 - 97;