στρυφνός

No convincing etymology. Clearly reminiscent of στύφω (stúphō, “to astringe”). Perhaps it derives from the same root, influenced by στριφνός (striphnós, “firm, hard, solid”) or στρηνής (strēnḗs, “hard, harsh”). The comparison with Proto-West Germanic *strūb (“stiff, rough, bristly”), Lithuanian strùbas (“cut short, curtailed”) and Proto-Slavic *strupъ (“scab, crust of a wound”) is not semantically compelling and therefore uncertain.

στρῠφνός • (struphnós) m (feminine στρῠφνή, neuter στρῠφνόν); first/second declension

1. sour, bitter, harsh, astringent

   Synonym: στυφελός (stuphelós)

2. (figuratively) harsh, severe, austere

• “στρυφνός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “στρυφνός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• στρυφνός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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