cynegetic

English

WOTD – 10 June 2024

Etymology

PIE word
*ḱwṓ

Gustave Courbet, La curée, chasse au chevreuil dans les forêts du Grand Jura (The Quarry: Deer Hunt in the Forests of the Grand Jura, 1857). The painting depicts hunting dogs with their quarry, a deer.

Borrowed from Greek κυνηγετικός (kynigetikós, “of or relating to hunting”) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Κυνηγετικός (Kynigetikós) is inherited from Ancient Greek κῠνηγετῐκός (kunēgetikós), from κυνηγέτης (kunēgétēs, “hunter”) + -ῐκός (-ikós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives); and κυνηγέτης (kunēgétēs) from κύων (kúōn, “dog”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”)) + ἡγέτης (hēgétēs, “leader”) (ultimately from ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to lead”), possibly from ᾰ̓́γω (ágō, “to guide; to lead”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”) or *seh₂g- (“to seek out”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪniːˈd͡ʒɛtɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪniˈd͡ʒɛtɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɛtɪk
• Hyphenation: cyn‧e‧get‧ic

Adjective

cynegetic (comparative more cynegetic, superlative most cynegetic)

1. (hunting, rare) Of or relating to hunting (especially with dogs).
   • 1763, James Elphinston, “Book the Third”, in Education, in Four Books, London: […] P. Vaillant, […]; W. Owen, […]; and J. Richardson, […], →OCLC, page 88, lines 430–431:

     Hail Oppian, prime of cynegetic race, / From Maro [i.e., Virgil] dovvn to him vvho ſounds the Chace: […]

   • 1836, The Tribunal of Manners, a Satyricon, London: J. Ridgway and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 58:

     Give me the hippic—the philippic taste, / All else a wilderness, and man a waste; / Give me the turf, and cynegetic sport, / The zeal, the jealousy, and zest of court; […]

   • 1836 November 9, John Scouler, “Remarks on the Natural History of the Fossil Elk”, in Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin, volume I, number [III], Dublin: […] P. Dixon Hardy [for the Geological Society of Dublin], […], published 1838, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 200:

     The Roman authors, especially the cynegetic poets, have given descriptions of the different British dogs; the Scotch terrier is accurately described by Oppian; and Irish wolf dogs were brought to Rome about the fourth century.

   • 1838, William H[amilton] Drummond, “Man’s Right to Hunting and Fishing”, in The Rights of Animals, and Man’s Obligation to Treat Them with Humanity, London: John Mardon, […]; Smallfield and Son, and Green, […]; Dublin: Hodges and Smith, →OCLC, page 36:

     But as there are no lions, wolves, nor wild boars in Great Britain, he [the poet James Thomson] admonishes the British youth to indulge their cynegetic propensities in the fox-chase, which he describes con amore [with love].

   • 1873, Jules Verne, “Round the Moon: A Sequel to From the Earth to the Moon. Chapter III. Their Place of Shelter.”, in Louis Mercier [i.e., Lewis Page Mercier], Eleanor E. King, transl., From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: And a Trip Round It. […], New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Armstrong & Company, published 1874, →OCLC, page 170:

     "Come Diana [a dog]," said he; "come, my girl! thou whose destiny will be marked in the cynegetic annals; […] thou who art rushing into interplanetary space, and wilt perhaps be the Eve of all Selenite dogs! come, Diana, come here."

   • 1973, Paul Shepard, “Hunting as a Way of Life”, in The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →ISBN, page 259:

     The cynegetic life is authentic because it is close to the philosophical center of human life. It constantly contrasts two central mysteries: the nature of the animal and of death. These are brought together in hunting.

   • 2012, Grégoire Chamayou, “The Hunt for Bipedal Cattle”, in Steven Rendall, transl., Manhunts: A Philosophical History, Princeton, N.J.; Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 5:

     In the Sophist, Plato emphasizes the fact that hunting cannot be reduced to tracking wild animals. Among the different branches of the cynegetic art there is also an art of manhunting, which is in turn subdivided into several categories: "Let us define piracy, manstealing, tyranny, the whole military art, by one name, as hunting with violence."

Derived terms

• cynegetics

Translations

of or relating to hunting

• Catalan: cinegètic (ca)
• Finnish: metsästys-
• French: cynégétique (fr)
• Greek: κυνηγετικός (el) (kynigetikós)

  Ancient Greek: κῠνηγετῐκός (kunēgetikós)

• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: cinegético (pt)
• Spanish: cinegético (es)

Further reading

• hunting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia