χοῖρος

See also: χοίρος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Traditionally derived from Proto-Hellenic *kʰóřřos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰóryos (“pig”) (whence Albanian derr (“id”)), from *ǵʰer- (“to be excited, bristly”) +‎ *-yos (owing to the bristliness of wild pigs), whence *ǵʰḗr (“hedgehog”). But in view of the limited distribution, Beekes suspects a Pre-Greek substrate origin for the Greek and Albanian terms.^[1]

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kʰôi̯.ros/ → /ˈçy.ros/ → /ˈçi.ros/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰôi̯.ros/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰy.ros/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈçy.ros/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈçy.ros/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈçi.ros/

Noun

χοῖρος • (khoîros) m (genitive χοίρου); second declension

1. a pig, especially a young one.
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Archarnians 521:

     Κεἴ που σίκυον ἴδοιεν ἢ λαγῴδιον
     ἢ χοιρίδιον ἢ σκόροδον ἢ χόνδρους ἅλας,
     ταῦτ’ ἦν “Μεγαρικὰ” κἀπέπρατ’ αὐθημερόν.

     Keí pou síkuon ídoien ḕ lagṓidion
     ḕ khoirídion ḕ skórodon ḕ khóndrous hálas,
     taût’ ên “Megarikà” kapéprat’ authēmerón.

     And if they see a cucumber or a young hare
     or a piglet or a clove of garlic or a granule of salt,
     They would shout "Megarian!" and take it all away.

2. (generally) swine
3. (slang, vulgar) female genitalia, especially those belonging to a young woman
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Archarnians 782–783:

     Νῦν γε χοῖρος φαίνεται.
     ἀτὰρ ἐκτραφείς γε κύσθος ἔσται.

     Nûn ge khoîros phaínetai.
     atàr ektrapheís ge kústhos éstai.

     Now it looks like a pussy.
     But once it's been reared, it'll be a cunt.

4. a fish of the Nile

Usage notes

• For the semantic shift of “pig” to “female genitalia”, compare the same Latin use of porcus.

Inflection

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ χοῖρος ho khoîros	τὼ χοίρω tṑ khoírō	οἱ χοῖροι hoi khoîroi
Genitive	τοῦ χοίρου toû khoírou	τοῖν χοίροιν toîn khoíroin	τῶν χοίρων tôn khoírōn
Dative	τῷ χοίρῳ tôi khoírōi	τοῖν χοίροιν toîn khoíroin	τοῖς χοίροις toîs khoírois
Accusative	τὸν χοῖρον tòn khoîron	τὼ χοίρω tṑ khoírō	τοὺς χοίρους toùs khoírous
Vocative	χοῖρε khoîre	χοίρω khoírō	χοῖροι khoîroi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Second declension of ὁ χοῖρος; τοῦ χοίρου (Attic)

Synonyms

• (swine): ὗς (hûs), σῦς (sûs)

Derived terms

• χοίρειος (khoíreios)
• χοιρίδιον (khoirídion)
• χοίρινος (khoírinos)
• χοιρίον (khoiríon)
• Χοιροβοσκός (Khoiroboskós)
• χοιροκομεῖον (khoirokomeîon)
• χοιροπῐ́θηκος (khoiropíthēkos)
• χοιροπώλης (khoiropṓlēs)
• χοιροτροφεῖον (khoirotropheîon)
• χοιροφορέω (khoirophoréō)

 

Descendants

• Greek: χοίρος (choíros)

References

1. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χοῖρος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1640–1641

Further reading

• “χοῖρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “χοῖρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “χοῖρος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• χοῖρος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• χοῖρος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G5519 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • hog idem, page 402.
  • pig idem, page 612.
  • swine idem, page 849.
• Chantraine, Pierre (1968–1980) “χοῖρος”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (in French), Paris: Klincksieck, pages 1266–1267
• Frisk, Hjalmar (1970) “χοῖρος”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, pages 1107–1108
• Lamberterie, Charles de (1980) “Échange de gutturales en arménien”, in Annual of Armenian linguistics (in French), volume 1, pages 25–26