Since the time of Horemheb the town Tjaru (now El Arish), later called by the Greeks Ῥινοκόλουρα was an inhospitable dry boarder town where criminals were sent to and disfigured. Background. Map.
Could somebody explain the morphology of the -ουρα part of Ῥινοκόλουρα?
Is it an element that marks the word as a toponymn?
The wikipedia page suggests that it’s ῥίς + κόλουρος [κόλος + οὐρά] = docked tail noses = curtailed noses, which makes sense in the context. So the -ουρα is just tail/end, I think.
Well pointed out.
I had assumed a left to right etymology - (Ῥινο + κολ) + ουρα, rather than allowing for a right to left etymology - Ῥινο + (κολ + ουρα).
The sense of κόλουρος as “truncated” as in the nose looking like a truncated triangular pyramid makes good sense.