tettix
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Ancient Greek τέττιξ (téttix), or perhaps a modern Greek descendant thereof.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɛtɪks/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Hyphenation: tet‧tix
Noun[edit]
tettix (plural tettixes)
- A cicada, especially in Greece.
- 1776, Richard Chandler, “chapter LXXXII”, in Travels in Asia Minor: Or An Account of a Tour Made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti, 2nd edition, London: Sold by J[ames] Dodsley, J[ames] Robson, T[homas] Cadell, P[eter] Elmsley, and G. Robinson; Oxford: D. Prince, →OCLC, pages 276–277:
- [T]he Tettix or Cicada in the day time is extremely troubleſome. It is a brown inſect reſembling a chafer, with wings much longer than its body, and thin like thoſe of a fly. […] Dionyſius of Syracuſe ſignified his reſolution to burn and lay waſte the territory of a people, with whom he had a quarrel, when he ſaid, that, if they refuſed to comply with his demands, their Tettixes ſhould ſing on the ground.
- 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!: Six Stories, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN:
- [T]hat Greek waste silent but for the risp of the tettix and the wash of listless wind through the spare grass.
- 1989, Helen King, “Tithonos and the Tettix”, in Thomas M. Falkner, Judith de Luce, editors, Old Age in Greek and Latin Literature (SUNY Series in Classical Studies), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 75:
- The woman who had lived on no food at all, however, recalls once more the insect into which Tithonos was transformed: the tettix, which was believed to exist without food or drink, or only on dew, or on dew and air.
