κέρκος

Of Pre-Greek origin. Compare κερκίς (kerkís).

κέρκος • (kérkos) f (genitive κέρκου); second declension

1. the tail of a beast
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 785
   • 424 BCE, Aristophanes, The Knights 1031
   • 424 BCE, Aristophanes, The Knights 909
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedrus 254d
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Sertorius 16
   • 350 BCE, Aristotle, Parts of Animals 689b.2
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 565b.29
   • 421 BCE, Aristophanes, Peace 1054
   • 4th century BC, Eubulus, Collected Works 130
2. a penis
   • 411 BCE, Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 239
   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Herodas, Collected Works 5.45
   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Herodas, Collected Works 3.68
3. a handle
   • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, Lexiphanes 7
4. a small animal that attacks grapevines
   • AD 5th C., Hesychius Alexandreus, Συναγωγὴ Πασῶν Λέξεων κατὰ Στοιχεῖον
   1. Synonym of ἀλεκτρυών (alektruṓn)
      • AD 5th C., Hesychius Alexandreus, Συναγωγὴ Πασῶν Λέξεων κατὰ Στοιχεῖον
5. a tongue of flame
   • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 1257
6. (Byzantine) a stake, picket, or pale
   • ScriptOr 259.21
7. (Byzantine) a burin (a chisel-like tool used for engraving)
   • VAndR e.69E

• κέρκουρος (kérkouros)

• Translingual: ?Cercomacra, Cercopithecus, ?Onchocerca, Ptilocercus (generic names)
• English: cysticercus
• Latin: cercus (New Latin)

• κέρκος in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• κέρκος 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
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill