σῦκον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

τῦκον (tûkon) – Boeotian

Etymology

Since long connected with Latin fīcus and Old Armenian թուզ (tʿuz), and considered a borrowing from a Mediterranean or Anatolian substrate source, to which there are likewise to ascribe Hebrew שִׁקְמָה‎ (šiqmā́, “sycamore fig”) – borrowed into συκάμινος (sukáminos) – and possibly Proto-Slavic *tyky (“gourd”). Martirosyan reconstructs a Mediterranean *tʰuōiḱo- or *tʰū(i)ḱo- (“fig”). 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)
- Homer, Odyssey 7.121
- Herodotus, Histories 2.40
a large wart on the eyelids
- Aristophanes, The Frogs 1247, (Compare Hippocrates, Epidemics 3.1085)
1. hemorrhoids
vulva
- 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 tà sûka
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 tà sûka
Vocative	σῦκον sûkon	σῡ́κω sū́kō	σῦκᾰ sûka
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 (sūkophántēs)
σῡκόμορος (sūkómoros, “fig-mulberry”)
σῡκοτρᾰ́γος (sūkotrágos)
σῡκόφῠλλον (sūkóphullon)
σῡκών (sūkṓn)
βασίλεια σῦκον (basíleia sûkon)
σῡκέᾱ (sūkéā)

Related terms

συκῆ (sukê)

Descendants

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

References

“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, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- fig idem, page 318.
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) 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
Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 23
Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎ (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 274–280
Martirosyan, Hrach (2010), “t‘uz”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 295
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, issue 10, § 6.4.4., page 117