canicular days

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromΚῠ́ων“the Dog”
2. Latin · calque ofdiēs caniculārēs
3. English todaycanicular days

Calque of Latin diēs caniculārēs (literally “puppy days”), from Canīcula (“the Puppy”), a semantic loan of Ancient Greek Κῠ́ων (Kŭ́ōn, “the Dog”) in reference to Sirius, which appears in Epic Greek as κῠ́ων Ὠρίωνος (kŭ́ōn Ōríōnos, literally “Orion’s dog”) in its elided accusative form κύν’ Ὠρίωνος (kún’ Ōríōnos) in Iliad XXII.29.

Words from the same roots