grex

== English == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin grex (“flock”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈɡɹɛks/ === Noun === grex (plural greges or grexes) (biology) A multicellular aggregate of amoeba. (horticulture) A kind of group used in horticultural nomenclature, applied to the progeny of an artificial cross from specified parents, in particular for orchids. Synonym: gx ==== Derived terms ==== grex name gregaric === Further reading === Grex (horticulture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia == Latin == === Etymology === Uncertain. De Vaan 2008 reconstructs Proto-Italic *gʷregs and Proto-Indo-European *gʷreg- (“group, herd”), and assumes it is cognate to Khotanese [script needed] (haṃ-grīs, “to gather, assemble”). A variant form of the same root, *g(ʷ)reg(ʷ)-, may possibly be the source of Ancient Greek γάργαρα (gárgara, “heaps, lots (of people, etc.)”) and Lithuanian gurguole (“mass, crowd”) and gurgulys (“chaos, confusion”). In contrast, Beekes views the Greek and Lithuanian terms as independent onomatopoeic formations, not cognates of each other. Matasović 2009 alternatively reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *greg- (“group, herd”), suggesting this comes from Proto-Indo-European *ger- or Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“gather”). This reconstruction is based on treating grex and γάργαρα (gárgara) as cognates to Welsh gre (“herd”) and Old Irish graig (“horses”), from Proto-Celtic *gregi-: this cannot be inherited from a root starting with *gʷr-, since that would yield Proto-Celtic *br- (as in Proto-Celtic *brātus). However, it is debated whether the Celtic terms are cognate to or borrowed from Latin grex. Schrijver considers a connection with *h₂ger- doubtful but not completely impossible. Compare gremium and Proto-Germanic *krimmaną as other potential derivatives of *h₂ger-. Another potential cognate is Old Church Slavonic гръсть (grŭstĭ, “handful”). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced? Particularly: “cognate to гръсть per whom?”) === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈɡrɛks] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈɡrɛks] === Noun === grex m (genitive gregis); third declension (zoology) a group of smaller animals: a flock (of birds, sheep, etc.), a pack (of dogs, wolves, etc.), a swarm (of insects), etc. (figurative) a similar group of other things Synonyms: cumulus, acervus, massa, mōlēs, multitūdō a group of people: a crowd, a clique, a company, a band, a troop, etc. Synonyms: multitūdō, turba (sports) a team of charioteers. (theater) a troupe of actors. ==== Usage notes ==== Properly, a herd or drove of larger animals form a pecus n, a iūmentum (when pulling carts), or an armenta (when pulling a plow), while smaller animals—especially domesticated pecudēs—form a grex. Its use for people is not necessarily pejorative in the way pecus is. ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun. ==== Hyponyms ==== pecus ==== Derived terms ==== ēgregius gregālis gregārius gregātim ==== Related terms ==== gregō ==== Descendants ==== === References === === Further reading === “grex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “grex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers “grex”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co. "Pecus; Jumentum; Armentum; Grex" in H.H. Arnold's translation of Ludwig von Döderlein's Hand-Book of Latin Synonymes (1841), pp. 158–9. Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “grĕx”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 4: G H I, page 268