Kerkôps, kerkôpos: apateôn. ê genos pithêkou. Kekrops de, Kekropos.
The common noun
ke/krwy had both of the senses given. That of "knave" (as an extension of the Kerkopes:
kappa 1405,
kappa 1406) is the usual sense in antiquity (LSJ s.v. I). The sense "ape" turns up in Byzantine Greek, based on the fact that the Kekropes were man-monkeys. LSJ s.v. II cites only an instance in the astrological corpus published by Manitius; but the sense is clear in John Lydus (6 CE),
On Months 3.11: "and that is why the Egyptians have the custom of honouring the ibis and the
kerkôps; for both animals are considered in concord with the Moon".
On Kekrops (the second vowel is omicron) see
kappa 1272.
[1] Gloss taken from
Photius and the
Lexica Segueriana, and similarly elsewhere.
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