ζίζυφον
Έγ', ὦ ταλαίπωρ', αὐτὸς ὧν χρείᾳ πάρει. Τὰ πολλὰ γάρ τοι ῥήματ' ἢ τέρψαντά τι, ἢ δυσχεράναντ', ἢ κατοικτίσαντά πως, παρέσχε φωνὴν τοῖς ἀφωνήτοις τινά –> Wretched brother, tell him what you need. A multitude of words can be pleasurable, burdensome, or they can arouse pity somehow — they give a kind of voice to the voiceless.
English (LSJ)
τό, a tree, the fruit of which is
A the jujube, Zizyphus vulgaris, Gp.10.3.4; ziziphus, Colum.9.4.3: gen. pl. zizuforum, Edict. Diocl.6.56.
German (Pape)
[Seite 1140] τό, rhamnus jujuba (die Frucht jujubae wird in den Apotheken gebraucht), Geop.
Frisk Etymological English
Grammatical information: n.
Meaning: a tree of which the fruit is the jujube, Rhamnus jujuba (Colum., Edict. Diocl., Gp.).
Origin: LW [a loanword which is (probably) not of Pre-Greek origin] Orient.
Etymology: Origin unknown. From Greek comes Fr. jujube (from where MLat. jujuba), perhaps also Syr. zūzfā; s. Sommer Lautstud. 154, W.-Hofmann s. jujuba. I see no reason for Szemerényi's suggestion (from Durante, AION-L 8 (1968) 25f) for original *ζυζυφον. Barnhart, Dict. of Etym., 1988, says that it comes from Persian zayzafun. It could be Pre-Greek (cf. σέσυφος, Σίσυφος).
