eɫungn

Grammatical information: m.

Meaning: `nail, claw, hoof', often metaph. in several meanings' (Il.).

Dialectal forms: Myc. onuka \/ onuks\/ Nicole Guilleux, RPh. LXXV(2001)149.

Compounds: Compp., e.g. ὀνυχο-γραφέομαι `to be carved by a nail' (Hp.), γαμψ-ῶνυξ and - ώνυχος ` with curved claws' (Il., also Arist.; on the stemformation Sommer Nominalkomp.96 ff.); on μῶνυξ s. v.

Derivatives: Dimin. ὀνύχιον n. (Arist., pap.); ὀνυχιστήρ, - ῆρος m. `hoof' (LXX; cf. on βραχιονιστήρ and ὀνυχίζομαι below); ὀνυχ-ιμαῖος `of the size of nail-parings, tiny' (Com. Adesp.), - ιαῖος `as broad as a nail' (Eust.); ὀνυχ-ίζομαι `to cut one's nails' (Cratin., LXX) with - ισμός m. (Str.), - ιστήριον n. `nailscissors' (Posidipp. Com.); - ίζω `to test with one's nails' (Artem.); - όω `to equip with claws, to bend in a claw-like fashion' (Orib., sch.).

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [780] * h₃nogh- `nail'

Etymology: Old (popular s. Ernout-Meillet s. unguis) name of the nail and the hoof, which is in most language-groups, even if in strongly changed form, retained. With the disyllabic ὄνυξ ( ὀνυχ-) agrees best Arm. eɫungn `nail' with secondary n-stem (like ot-n `foot'; s. πούς), dissimilation n -- n \> ɫ -- n and inner nasalisation either from monosyllabic ongh- (Kortlandt assumes that * h₃nogh-\/* h₃ngh- yielded * onog\/* ong, which were contaminated in * onong; this became * enong by dissimilation, which gave eɫungn; Armeniaca 76). The other languages have a monosyllabic stem, either ongh-, n̥gh- (Lat. unguis, Celt., e.g. OIr. ingen f.) or nogh- (Germ., e.g. OHG nagal m. ' Nagel', Balt.-Slav., e.g. Lith. nãgas m. `nail, claw'); with ten. asp. Indo-Ir., e.g. Skt. nakhá- m. n. `nail, claw'; diff. suffixes, which are unimportant for Greek. On the ablaut cf. e.g. ὀμφαλός. -- Further details w. rich lit. in WP. 1, 180 f. and Pok. 780 as in the special. dict, W.-Hofmann a. Ernout-Meillet s. un-guis, Mayrhofer s. nakhám, Fraenkel s. nãgas, Vasmer s. nogá. Rootspeculations in Specht Ursprung 253 b. 1. Wrong Rogge PhW 44, 1004 (ὀ- from ὄγκος).

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