# σκύλαξ
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

Uncertain. Compare κύλλα (kúlla, “puppy (hapax)”), σκύλιον (skúlion, “dogfish”), σκύλλα (skúlla, “shark”), as well as Old Armenian ցուլ (cʻul, “bull”), Old Irish cuilén (“puppy”), Lithuanian kalė̃ (“bitch, female dog”), and Russian клей (klej). A Proto-Indo-European *(s)kol- (“animal”) is possible, but problematic. Based on the phonetic issues with connecting the similar words mentioned above, Beekes tentatively takes the word as Pre-Greek; it is possible that some, all, or none of the cognates mentioned above are taken from the same substrate continuum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ský.laks/ → /ˈscy.laks/ → /ˈsci.laks/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /ský.laks/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈsky.laks/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈscy.laks/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈscy.laks/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈsci.laks/

### Noun

σκῠ́λᾰξ • (skúlax) m or f (genitive σκῠ́λᾰκος); third declension
* young dog, whelp, puppy
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.289
** 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 834
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.32
** dog
*** 405 BCE, Euripides, The Bacchae 338
*** 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 375
** (of other young animals) whelp
** 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 1277
* a chain, a chain or collar for the neck
** c. 400 BCE, Plato Comicus, Greece, 5 (quoted by Julius Pollux 10.167; fragment 23 in Kock's Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta):λαβὼν οὖν / τὸν σκύλακα τὸν τοῦ προξένου κἄπειτα δῆσον αὐτόν.labṑn oûn / tòn skúlaka tòn toû proxénou kápeita dêson autón.[...] having then grasped the representative's chain, which would bind him later too.
** c. 117 BCE, Polybius, Histories‎, 20.10.8:ταῦτα λέγων φέρειν ἅλυσιν ἐκέλευσε καὶ σκύλακα σιδηροῦν ἑκάστῳ περιθεῖναι περὶ τὸν τράχηλον.taûta légōn phérein hálusin ekéleuse kaì skúlaka sidēroûn hekástōi peritheînai perì tòn trákhēlon.With these words he ordered his men to bring a chain and an iron collar and put it on the neck of each of them.
* (Hesychius) erotic dance? / sex position?
** 5th c. C.E., Hesychius of Alexandria, Γλώσσαι, Σ:σκύλαξ· σχῆμα ἀφροδισιακόν, ὡς τὸ τῶν φοινικιζόντωνskúlax; skhêma aphrodisiakón, hōs tò tôn phoinikizóntōnskúlax: sexual posturing, like that of those who act the Phoenician

#### Synonyms

* (little dog, puppy): κῠνάριον (kunárion), κυνίδιον (kunídion)
* (young animal): σκύμνος (skúmnos)

#### Derived terms

* Σκύλαξ (Skúlax)

#### Descendants

* Greek: σκύλος m (skýlos, “(male) dog”)
* Greek: σκύλα f (skýla, “(female) dog”)
* Greek: σκυλί n (skylí, “dog”)

### References

* ↑ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σκύλαξ, -ᾰκος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1361

### Further reading

* “σκύλαξ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* σκύλαξ in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* σκύλαξ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. cub idem, page 188.dog idem, page 246.hound idem, page 408.puppy idem, page 658.whelp idem, page 975.young idem, page 997.