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ἄκανθ-α [α^κ], ης, ἡ, （ἀκή A)
A.thorn, prickle, Arist.PA655a19, Thphr. HP6.1.3: hence,
1. any thorny or prickly plant (in Od.5.328 (pl.) prob. Eryngium campestre), S.Fr.718, Eub.107.19, Theoc.1.132, etc.: prov., οὐ γὰρ ἄκανθαι no thistles, i.e. 'an easy job', Ar.Fr. 272,483:—special kinds: ἄ. Ἀραβική smaller milk-thistle, Notobasis syriaca, Dsc.3.13; ἄ. βασιλική fish-thistle, Cnicus Acarna, Thphr. CP 1.10.5; ἄ. Ἰνδική, = Balsamodendron Mukul, Id.HP9.1.2; ἄ. λευκή Acacia albida, ib.4.2.8; = ἄ. βασιλική, Dsc.3.12; ἄ. λευκὴ τρίοζος, = Euphorbia antiquorum, Thphr.HP4.4.12; ἄ. ἀκανώδης (prob.) cornthistle, Carduus arvensis, ib.10.6.
2. of other plants, e.g. Spanish broom, Spartium junceum, Str.3.5.10:— = ἀκακία, ἄ. Αἰγυπτία, Thphr.HP9.1.2. cf. POxy.1188.10 (13 A. D.), etc.; ἄ. μέλαινα Acacia arabica, Thphr.HP4.2.8, cf. Hdt.2.96, Thd.Is.41.19; ἄ. δψάς, = Acacia tortilis, Thphr.HP4.7.1.
3. centralflowering-bud of χαμαιλέων λευκός, ib.9.12.1, Dsc.3.8.
4. = ἄκανθος, Ps.-Dsc. 3.17.
5. in pl., prickles or spines of the hedgehog and of certain fish, Ion Trag.38, Arist.HA530b8.
6. backbone or spine of fish, A. Fr.275, Ar.V.969, Alex.110.11,al.; of serpents, Hdt.2.75, Theoc.24.32, A.R.4.150; of men, Hdt.4.72, Hp.Art.14, E.El.492, Arist.PA 654a26, Gal.2.451, etc.; improperly used of mammalia, acc. to Arist. AP0.98a22; of the spinous processes of the vertebrae, Gal.2.758; χονδρώδεις ἄ. false ribs, Ruf.Oss.25.
7. metaph. in pl., thorny questions, Luc.Hes.5, Ath.3.97d.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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