τρύχω
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
τρίχες
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
thrix
English translation (word)
hair
Transliteration (Etymon)
trukhō
English translation (etymon)
to wear out
Century
12 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
Ety. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 768
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford, 1848
Quotation
Τρίχες: Παρὰ τὴν τραχύτητα, τράχες τινὲς οὖσαι· οἱ δὲ, ἀπὸ τοῦ τρίζειν ἐν τῇ κουρᾷ· οἱ δὲ, ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους· οἱ δὲ, ἀπὸ τοῦ τρύχεσθαι καὶ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι συνεχῶς.
Translation (En)
Trikhes "hair": from its coarseness (trakhutēta), being *trakhes, as it were. But for others, from trizein "to utter a shrill cry" when it is cut. And for others, from their number. And others, from the fact that they are consistently trimmed (trukhesthai) and cut
Parallels
Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, tau, p. 1745 (idem, except that Ps.-Zonaras has τράχεες instead of τράχες)
Modern etymology
Isolated within Greek. Maybe cognate with Lith. drikà "thread, with a variation of the last consonant of the root comparable to cases like *steib(h)/p-, despite Beekes' skepticism
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG still has τρίχα (from the non-nominative stem of Ancient Greek τριχ-)
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology implying one formal change, from [u] to [I]. The etymology relies on the idea that the hair keeps growing and must be cut: the explanation is therefore basically the same as in Philoxenus' etymology by θερίζω "to reap" (see θρίξ / θερίζω), the difference is that Philoxenus' etymology starts from the nominative stem θρίξ and this one from the non-nominative stem τριχ-.