ῥίον

See also: Ῥίον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The word is isolated within Hellenic and has no certain etymology. If it originally had an initial "ϝ-", it would recall βρία (bría, town) and perhaps also Tocharian B riye (town). The connections with Proto-Germanic *risiz (giant), Latin verrūca (wart), Proto-Slavic *vьrxъ (top, peak) and Sanskrit वर्ष्मन् (varṣman, height, top) are no better. As an alternative to all these problematic suggestions, Beekes considers the possibility that the word is of Pre-Greek origin.

Attested in Mycenaean Greek as 𐀪𐀍 (ri-jo).

Pronunciation

 

Noun

ῥίον • (rhíonn (genitive ῥίου); second declension

  1. peak, summit, any jutting part of a mountain
  2. headland
  3. bay formed by a foreland

Inflection

Derived terms

Further reading