κάρυον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Of unclear origen.

Traditionally compared with Latin carīna (“ship's keel; shell of a nut”) and Sanskrit करक (karaka, “water jar; coconut (shell)”). The Latin term is likely cognate, though whether via borrowing from Greek, a common third source, or via inheritance (traditionally taken as Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“hard”), whose existence has been doubted, including by Beekes) is uncertain, while the Sanskrit term is more dubious, particularly as the "coconut shell" meaning is listed as lexicographic, indicating that it may not have been the primary meaning.

Based on the Hesychian variant ἄρυα (árua, “Heraclitean nut”) displaying a κ-/∅ interchange in the initial, Beekes takes the word as Pre-Greek.^[1]

An alternative theory derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head”). Cognates include English harns, Old Norse hjarni, Latin cerebrum (all three meaning 'brain') and Avestan 𐬯𐬁𐬭𐬀 (sāra), Persian (sar) and Sanskrit शिरस् (śiras) (all three meaning 'head'). See as well κρᾱνίον (krāníon, “skull”), κέρας (kéras, “horn”) and κᾰ́ρᾱ (kắrā, “face”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ká.ry.on/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈka.ry.on/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈka.ry.on/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈka.ry.on/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈka.ri.on/

Noun

κᾰ́ρῠον • (kắrŭon) n (genitive κᾰρῠ́ου); second declension

nut (hard-shelled seed)

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ κᾰ́ρῠον; τοῦ κᾰρῠ́ου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ κᾰ́ρῠον tò kắrŭon	τὼ κᾰρῠ́ω tṑ kărŭ́ō	τᾰ̀ κᾰ́ρῠᾰ tằ kắrŭă
Genitive	τοῦ κᾰρῠ́ου toû kărŭ́ou	τοῖν κᾰρῠ́οιν toîn kărŭ́oin	τῶν κᾰρῠ́ων tôn kărŭ́ōn
Dative	τῷ κᾰρῠ́ῳ tôi kărŭ́ōi	τοῖν κᾰρῠ́οιν toîn kărŭ́oin	τοῖς κᾰρῠ́οις toîs kărŭ́ois
Accusative	τὸ κᾰ́ρῠον tò kắrŭon	τὼ κᾰρῠ́ω tṑ kărŭ́ō	τᾰ̀ κᾰ́ρῠᾰ tằ kắrŭă
Vocative	κᾰ́ρῠον kắrŭon	κᾰρῠ́ω kărŭ́ō	κᾰ́ρῠᾰ kắrŭă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

κᾰρῡ́δῐον (kărū́dĭon)
καρύϊνος (karúïnos)
Ποντικόν κάρυον (Pontikón káruon)

Descendants

Greek: καρύδι (karýdi)
Latin: caryon
Translingual: Carya

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κάρυον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 651

“κάρυον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“κάρυον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
κάρυον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
κάρυον in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- nut idem, page 563.
- walnut idem, page 961.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κάρυον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 651

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