ἄκανθα
akantha
thorn, prickle
Appears 49 times across Aristotle's works.
Frequency by work
Click a work to list every occurrence by Bekker number — each links into the reader.
Dictionary (LSJ)
ἄκανθα [ᾰκ], ης, ἡ, (ἀκή A) A. thorn, prickle, PA 655a19, HP 6.1.3: hence, 1. any thorny or prickly plant (in Od. 5.328 (pl.) prob. Eryngium campestre), Fr. 718, 107.19, 1.132, etc.: prov., οὐ γὰρ ἄκανθαι no thistles, i.e. ‘an easy job’, Fr. 272,483:—special kinds: ἄ. Ἀραβική smaller milk-thistle, Notobasis syriaca, 3.13; ἄ. βασιλική fish-thistle, Cnicus Acarna, CP 1.10.5; ἄ. Ἰνδική, = Balsamodendron Mukul, HP 9.1.2; ἄ. λευκή Acacia albida, ib.4.2.8; = ἄ. βασιλική, 3.12; ἄ. λευκὴ τρίοζος, = Euphorbia antiquorum, HP 4.4.12; ἄ. ἀκανώδης (prob.) cornthistle, Carduus arvensis, ib.10.6. 2. of other plants, e.g. Spanish broom, Spartium junceum, 3.5.10:— = ἀκακία, ἄ. Αἰγυπτία, HP 9.1.2. cf. POxy. 1188.10 (13 A.D.), etc.; ἄ. μέλαινα Acacia arabica, HP 4.2.8, cf. 2.96, Is. 41.19; ἄ. διψάς, = Acacia tortilis, HP 4.7.1. 3. central flowering-bud of χαμαιλέων λευκός, ib.9.12.1, 3.8. 4. = ἄκανθος, Ps.- 3.17. 5. in pl., prickles or spines of the hedgehog and of certain fish, Ion Trag.38, HA 530b8. 6. backbone or spine of fish, Fr. 275, V. 969, 110.11,al.; of serpents, 2.75, 24.32, 4.150; of men, 4.72, Art. 14, El. 492, PA 654a26, 2.451, etc.; improperly used of mammalia, acc. to AP 0.98a22; of the spinous processes of the vertebrae, 2.758; χονδρώδεις ἄ. false ribs, Oss. 25. 7. metaph. in pl., thorny questions, Hes. 5, 3.97d.
Key passages & sense analysis (Bonitz)
Index Aristotelicus. Hermann Bonitz's sense-by-sense analysis of
ἄκανθα — with the passages
he singles out as decisive for each meaning — will appear here. That curated,
interpretive selection is the layer LSJ and a raw concordance don't provide.
Digitisation in progress; this entry is not yet available.
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