κωκύω

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kū-. According to Beekes, the word is not Indo-European and, thus, probably Pre-Greek. It has been assumed that the verb has intensive reduplication, by comparison with Sanskrit कौति (kauti, “to cry, moan”), but these are only attested in grammarians.

κωκῡ́ω • (kōkū́ō)

1. (especially of women) to shriek, wail

   Synonyms: θρέομαι (thréomai), ὀδῡ́ρομαι (odū́romai)

   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.703:

     κώκυσέν τ’ ἄρ’ ἔπειτα γέγωνέ τε πᾶν κατὰ ἄστυ·

     kṓkusén t’ ár’ épeita gégōné te pân katà ástu;

     Thereupon, she shrieked and cried all through the city:

2. to lament or shriek over one dead

• “κωκύω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κωκύω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “κωκύω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• κωκύω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• κωκύω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN