ἄρξ

ἄρξ, ὁ,

A bear,

ἐγὼ εἰς κάτω μέρη λέων εἰμὶ καὶ εἰς ἄνω μέρη ἄ. εἰμί OGI 201.15

([place name] Nubia), cf. PMag.Lond.121.782.

Grammatical information: f. (m.?)

Meaning: `bear' (Il.); also `Ursa maior' (Scherer Gestirnnamen 131ff.), `the north'; also a crustacean, `Arctos Ursus' = τέττιξ (Arist.; Thompson Fishes 17).

Other forms: ἄρκος m. f. (LXX). The form is early in names, Dobias-Lalou, Inscr. Cyrène, 2000, 6. Late ἄρξ (OGI 201, 15).

Compounds: Άρκτοῦρος (Hes.) with - ορος `surveyor' s. φρουρός.

Derivatives: Demin. ἀρκτύλος (Poll.), ἄρκυλλος (Sch. Opp.), ἄρκιλος (Eust.); ἀρκτῳ̃ος `id.' (Luc.; after ἑῳ̃ος from ἕως); ἄρκ(τ)ειος `belonging to a bear' (Dsc.; after αἴγειος, βόειος etc.); ἀρκτῆ (aus - έη) f. `skin of a bear' (Anaxandr.). ἄρκτιον n. plant name, `Inula candida' (Dsc.; Strömberg Pflanzennamen 118). - Whether Άρκάδες (s.v.) belongs here, is uncertain s. Sommer Ahh. u. Sprw. 63f.

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [864] *h₂rtḱo- `bear'

Etymology: The late form with single - κ- is confirmed by derivations; it must be just simplification (or from before the metathesis?). Old name of the bear: Skt. ŕ̥kṣa-, Av. arša-, Arm. arǰ, Lat. ursus, Celt., e.g. MIr. art. Hitt. ḫartagga- lead to the reconstruction *h₂rtḱo-. In Germanic and Balto-Slavic the name was replaced, prob. for taboo-reasons; cf. Emeneau Lang. 24, 56ff. The old etymology as `destroyer' (Skt. rákṣas-, Aw. raš- `damage) has now become untenable. On the suffix -ḱ- cf. ἀλώπηξ.

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