σεύω + κίω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
σικυούς
Word-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
sikuos
English translation (word)
cucumber
Transliteration (Etymon)
seuō + kiō
English translation (etymon)
to burst forth + to move
Century
2 BC
Source
Athenaeus
Ref.
Deipnosophistae 3.5
Ed.
G. Kaibel, Athenaei Naucratitae deipnosophistarum libri xv, 3 vols., Leipzig: Teubner, 1887
Quotation
Ὠνομάσθαι δὲ σικυούς φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Ἰξίων ἐν ᾱʹ Ἐτυμολογουμένων ἀπὸ τοῦ σεύεσθαι καὶ κίειν· ὁρμητικὸν γὰρ ὑπάρχειν.
Translation (En)
Demetrius Ixion, in the first book of the Etymologumena, says that the word sikuos "cucumber" comes from seuesthai ("to burst forth") and kiein ("to move"); for it is a stimulating plant. (transl. Gulick)
Parallels
Eustathius, Comm. Il. 1, 689 Van der Valk (καὶ ἐκ τοῦ σύεσθαι, ἤγουν ὁρμᾶν, καὶ τοῦ κίειν ἡ συκῆ· ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν δὲ κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς καὶ ὁ σικυός κατὰ μετάθεσιν ἢ τροπὴν διχρόνων); idem, Comm. Od. 2, 148 Stallbaum (εἰ γὰρ ὥς περ ἡ συκῆ παρὰ τὸ σύειν καὶ κίειν, ὅ πέρ ἐστιν ὁρμᾶσθαι, οὕτω κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς καὶ ὁ σικυὸς ἐτράπη καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ τὸ υ εἰς ἰῶτα, διὰ τὸ ἀσυνέμπτωτον, ἵνα μὴ καὶ τῷ σικυῷ σύκου ἐμφαίνηταί τι)
Modern etymology
Probably a loanword (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
No
Entry By
Arthur de Tocqueville
Comment
Compositional etymology implying, either a iotacized pronunciation of -κυον etymologized by κίω "to go", or a metathesis in a pre-form *συκιος (implicit), since only the latter can account for the etymology σεύομαι (zero grade in the Homeric aorist ἔσσυτο) + κίω. Eustathius in Comm. Od. 2, 148 explains it as the alteration of a *συκιον, from the same σεύω + κίω, which would be the etymon of συκῆ "fig", in order to prevent homophony. This would indicate that the etymology of σικυός was designed after that of συκέη (see συκῆ / σεύω + κίω). Eustathius does not comment on the second syllable and assumes a simple change of υ into ι, but in Comm. Il. 1, 689 he assumes a metathesis. The semantics rely on the alleged property of the vegetable to set man into motion