Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
Wikipedia has an article on:


Ancient Greek[edit]


Attested by Herodotus (2.32). Perhaps from συρτός "swept, washed down", from the verb σύρω trahere, "draw, drag, trail along", after the effect of the wind and the waves on the quicksands in these gulfs.

The metaphorical meaning "destruction" is due to the proverbial difficulty of navigating these gulfs due to shoreward drag.

Proper noun[edit]

Σύρτις, σύρτις f

  1. the Syrtis, name of two large shallow gulfs on the coast of Libya
    • Συνεχὴς δ’ἐστὶν ἡ μικρὰ σύρτις, ἣν καὶ Λωτοφαγῖτιν σύρτιν λέγουσιν. (Strabo, Geographica, 17.3)


Σύρτις, σύρτις

  1. destruction, ruin
    • ἄλλα δ’ ἄλλαν θραῦεν σύρτις (Timotheus Fragmenta, ed. D.L. Page, Poetae melici Graeci, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962, 1967, 400‑418; fragment 15, line 88)