Etymograph

English

Salonica

Salonica comes from Byzantine Greek Σαλονίκη, and goes back to Ancient Greek Θεσσαλονίκη.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEΘεσσαλονίκηThessaloníkē
  2. Byzantine Greekc. 600–1453ΣαλονίκηSaloníkē
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500Salonica
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1951same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEΘεσσαλονίκηThessaloníkē
  2. Byzantine Greekc. 600–1453ΣαλονίκηSaloníkē
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500Salonica
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1951same form

Earliest quotation: 1951, 'Pausanias', To Greece by the "Simplon-Orient Express": “Sleeping-car passengers, however, will know little of their entry…”

A compound of Θεσσᾰλός ‘Thessalian’ + νῑ́κη ‘victory’

Proto-Indo-European *neyk- ‘to attack, run at’

Ancient Greek νῑ́κη ‘victory’

The story

From Medieval Latin Salonica, from Byzantine Greek Σαλονίκη (Saloníkē), clipping of Ancient Greek Θεσσαλονίκη (Thessaloníkē), named for Thessalonike daughter of Philip II, half-sister of Alexander the Great, and wife of Cassander of Macedonia, from Θεσσᾰλός (Thessălós, “Thessalian”) + νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”), possibly named for her birth on the anniversary of the Battle of Crocus Field. Sometimes parsed as a clipping within English of Thessalonica.

Every English word from Ancient Greek Θεσσαλονίκη

Today it means

name Synonym of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek Θεσσαλονίκη / Salonica

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