Σύρτις

Contents

Ancient GreekEdit

EtymologyEdit

Attested by Herodotus (2.32). Perhaps from συρτός (surtós, “swept, washed down”), from the verb σύρω (súrō, “draw, drag, trail along”), after the effect of the wind and the waves on the quicksands in these gulfs.

The metaphorical meaning "destruction" is due to the proverbial difficulty of navigating these gulfs due to shoreward drag.

Proper nounEdit

Σύρτις • (Súrtis) f (indeclinable)

1. the Syrtis, name of two large shallow gulfs on the coast of Libya
   • Συνεχὴς δ’ἐστὶν ἡ μικρὰ σύρτις, ἣν καὶ Λωτοφαγῖτιν σύρτιν λέγουσιν. (Strabo, Geographica, 17.3)

NounEdit

Σύρτις • (Súrtis) f (indeclinable)

1. destruction, ruin
   • ἄλλα δ’ ἄλλαν θραῦεν σύρτις (Timotheus Fragmenta, ed. D.L. Page, Poetae melici Graeci, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962, 1967, 400‑418; fragment 15, line 88)

DescendantsEdit

• Syrtis
• Sirte
• سرت

ReferencesEdit

• Σύρτις in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “G4950”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon.
• John Lemprière, A classical dictionary: containing a copious account of all the proper names mentioned in ancient authors; with the value of coins, weights and measures, used among the Greeks and Romans; and a chronological table (1827), p. 790.