σικύα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

σικύη (sikúē) (Ionic)
σεκούα (sekoúa), συκύα (sukúa) (Hesychius)

Etymology

For plant names in -ύα, compare οἰσύα (oisúa), ὀστρύα (ostrúa). The Hesychius gloss σεκούα (sekoúa), as well as the toponym Σικυών (Sikuṓn)/Σεκυών (Sekuṓn), shows an alternation σικ-/σεκ-, which cannot be explained from an Indo-European point of view, but rather from substrate/Pre-Greek. Together with the forms συκύα (sukúa), κύκυον (kúkuon) and κυκύϊζα (kukúïza, “sweet round gourd”), as well as Latin cucumis (“cucumber”), Old Armenian սեխ (sex, “muskmelon”) and Proto-Slavic *tyky (“pumpkin”) it seems that we are dealing with a Wanderwort that might also have Semitic and Kartvelian cognates, like Arabic قِثَّاء‎ (qiṯṯāʾ, “Cucumis”), Akkadian 𒄾 (qiššû, “cucumber”), Hebrew קשוא‎ (qiššūʾ, “Armenian cucumber”), Laz შუკა (şuǩa, “cucumber; melon”), Mingrelian შინკა (šinḳa, “melon”).

Noun

σῐκῠ́ᾱ • (sikúā) f (genitive σῐκῠ́ᾱς); first declension

bottle gourd (Benincasa hispida, syn. Lagenaria vulgaris)
round gourd (Cucurbita maxima)
gourd used as a calabash
cupping-instrument, because it was shaped like a gourd

Inflection

First declension of ἡ σῐκῠ́ᾱ; τῆς σῐκῠ́ᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σῐκῠ́ᾱ hē sikúā	τὼ σῐκῠ́ᾱ tṑ sikúā	αἱ σῐκῠ́αι hai sikúai
Genitive	τῆς σῐκῠ́ᾱς tês sikúās	τοῖν σῐκῠ́αιν toîn sikúain	τῶν σῐκῠῶν tôn sikuôn
Dative	τῇ σῐκῠ́ᾳ têi sikúāi	τοῖν σῐκῠ́αιν toîn sikúain	ταῖς σῐκῠ́αις taîs sikúais
Accusative	τὴν σῐκῠ́ᾱν tḕn sikúān	τὼ σῐκῠ́ᾱ tṑ sikúā	τᾱ̀ς σῐκῠ́ᾱς tā̀s sikúās
Vocative	σῐκῠ́ᾱ sikúā	σῐκῠ́ᾱ sikúā	σῐκῠ́αι sikúai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

σῐκῠᾰ́ζω (sikuázō)
σῐκῠ́ᾰσῐς (sikúasis)
σῐκῠᾰσμός (sikuasmós)
σῐκῠᾰστήρῐον (sikuastḗrion)