[Meaning a] little box.
*ki/bos: kibw/tion.
LSJ s.v.
kibwto/s [
kappa 1578] mentions this entry as a suggested root form of the noun, whose etymology is problematic. But the same derivation is given in
Choeroboscus (
On Orthography), the
Etymologicum Gudianum, the
Etymologicum Magnum, and ps.-
Zonaras, with the last three attributing it to Horus of Miletus: "it may be from
ki/bos, meaning 'food'." That is, Horus seems to have suggested a derivation from Latin
cibus, which is implausible given how early the noun appears in Greek. Lewy (1895:99-100) has suggested an Aramaic etymology (
qūbbʿta "water tank" or
qēbʿta "stomach"), and takes the derivation from
ki/bos seriously, as closer to the Hebrew/Phoenician origins of the word. (The two Aramaic forms correspond to Hebrew
qubbā and
qēbā.)
Lewy, Heinrich. 1895. Die semitischen Fremdwörter im griechischen. Gaertner.
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