ὀνίσκος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From ὄνος (ónos, “donkey, ass”) +‎ -ῐ́σκος (-ĭ́skos). See also a similar equation of a fish and beetle in κάραβος (kárabos) and Latin iūlus from ἴουλος (íoulos). The meaning of woodlice arose by reason of the image of them being encountered bearing the weight of pitchers, which was also in outgoing antiquity translated by Arabic حُمُر الأَرْض (ḥumur al-ʔarḍ, literally “earth-asses”).^[1] In contrast, Latin asellus (“asslet”) bearing the sense of “woodlouse” was only fabricated in the seventeenth century by Germans after their native Assel.^[2]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /o.nís.kos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /oˈnis.kos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /oˈnis.kos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /oˈnis.kos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /oˈnis.kos/

Noun

ὀνῐ́σκος • (onĭ́skos) m (genitive ὀνῐ́σκου); second declension

a fish similar to a cod
woodlouse
Synonym: κουβαρίς (koubarís)
windlass, crane
Synonym: ἐργάτης (ergátēs)

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ ὀνῐ́σκος; τοῦ ὀνῐ́σκου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ ὀνῐ́σκος ho onĭ́skos	τὼ ὀνῐ́σκω tṑ onĭ́skō	οἱ ὀνῐ́σκοι hoi onĭ́skoi
Genitive	τοῦ ὀνῐ́σκου toû onĭ́skou	τοῖν ὀνῐ́σκοιν toîn onĭ́skoin	τῶν ὀνῐ́σκων tôn onĭ́skōn
Dative	τῷ ὀνῐ́σκῳ tōî onĭ́skōi	τοῖν ὀνῐ́σκοιν toîn onĭ́skoin	τοῖς ὀνῐ́σκοις toîs onĭ́skois
Accusative	τὸν ὀνῐ́σκον tòn onĭ́skon	τὼ ὀνῐ́σκω tṑ onĭ́skō	τοὺς ὀνῐ́σκους toùs onĭ́skous
Vocative	ὀνῐ́σκε onĭ́ske	ὀνῐ́σκω onĭ́skō	ὀνῐ́σκοι onĭ́skoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Latin: oniscus
→ Translingual: Oniscus

References

“ὀνίσκος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
ὀνίσκος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette

^ Dietrich, Albert, editor (a. 1200), Dioscurides triumphans. Ein anonymer arabischer Kommentar (Ende 12. Jahrh. n. Chr.) zur Materia medica. 2. Teil: Übersetzung und Kommentar (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse; Folge 3, Nr. 173) (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, published 1988, →ISBN, page 218 to II 32, assented by مروان بن جناح [Marwān ibn Janāḥ] (a. 1050) Gerrit Bos, Fabian Käs, editors, كتاب التلخيص [kitāb at-talḵīṣ] [On the Nomenclature of Medicinal Drugs], Leiden: Brill, published 2020, →DOI, →ISBN, page 392.
^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang (1979) “Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch und deutsche Etymologie”, in Philologus‎^[1], volume 123, numbers 1–2, →DOI, page 173

[1] Dietrich, Albert, editor (a. 1200), Dioscurides triumphans. Ein anonymer arabischer Kommentar (Ende 12. Jahrh. n. Chr.) zur Materia medica. 2. Teil: Übersetzung und Kommentar (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse; Folge 3, Nr. 173) (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, published 1988, →ISBN, page 218 to II 32, assented by مروان بن جناح [Marwān ibn Janāḥ] (a. 1050) Gerrit Bos, Fabian Käs, editors, كتاب التلخيص [kitāb at-talḵīṣ] [On the Nomenclature of Medicinal Drugs], Leiden: Brill, published 2020, →DOI, →ISBN, page 392.

[2] Pfeifer, Wolfgang (1979) “Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch und deutsche Etymologie”, in Philologus‎^[1], volume 123, numbers 1–2, →DOI, page 173

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