elephas

See also: Elephas

Latin

elephās

Alternative forms

elephāns, elephantus

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀁𐀩𐀞 (e-re-pa) from a compound of Berber *eḷu and either Egyptian ꜣbw,

or Sanskrit इभ (íbha).

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈe.le.pʰaːs/, [ˈɛɫ̪ɛpʰäːs̠]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈe.le.fas/, [ˈɛːlefäs]

Noun

elephās m (genitive elephantis); third declension

elephant
elephantiasis

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	elephās	elephantēs
Genitive	elephantis	elephantum
Dative	elephantī	elephantibus
Accusative	elephantem	elephantēs
Ablative	elephante	elephantibus
Vocative	elephās	elephantēs

Synonyms

(elephant): barrus, elephāns
(elephantiasis): elephantiasis, elephantia, elephanticus morbus

Descendants

Descendants derived from elephās, elephantus and elephāns all listed here.

Corsican: elefante
Italian: elefante
- → Sicilian: lifanti (or inherited from Latin)
Ladin: elefant
Ligurian: liofante
Lombard: elefant
Navarro-Aragonese:
- Aragonese: elefant, alifant
Neapolitan: liufante, alifante
Old Leonese:
- Asturian: elefante
- Mirandese: eilefante
Old Occitan: elephant
- Catalan: elefant
- Occitan: elefant
Old Portuguese: helefante, elefante, elifante
- Galician: elefante
- Portuguese: elefante, elephante
  - Papiamentu: elefante
Rhaeto-Romance:
- Friulian: elefant
- Romansch: elefant
Piedmontese: elefant
Sardinian: elefante, elefanti
Sicilian: lifanti (or via Italian)
Vulgar Latin: *olifantus
- Old French: olifan, elefant, olifant, oliphant
  - Middle French: olifant
    - French: olifant
      - → Catalan: olifant
      - → Finnish: olifantti
      - → Norwegian: olifant
      - → Portuguese: olifante
  - Walloon: elefant
  - → Breton: olifant
  - → Middle Dutch: olifant
    - Dutch: olifant
      - Afrikaans: olifant
      - → Papiamentu: olefante, olifant
  - → Middle English: olifant, olifaunt, oliphant, olyphant (from olifan, olifant form)
    - English: oliphant, olifant, olyfaunte, olyphant, oliphaunt
    - → Cornish: olifans
  - → Middle English: elefant, elefaunt (from elefan, elefant form)
    - English: elephant
      - → Hawaiian: ʻelepani
      - → Maori: arewhana
      - → Tokelauan: elefane
      - → Tongan: ʻelefanite
      - → Welsh: eliffant
    - Scots: elephant
    - → Manx: elefant
  - → Middle Irish: elifaint
    - Irish: eilifint
    - Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean
  - → Old Spanish: elifant, alefant, eleofant
    - Ladino: איליפ׳אנטי‎ (elefante)
    - Spanish: elefante
      - → Basque: elefante
      - → Chol: elefanti
      - → Cebuano: elepante
      - → Hiligaynon: elepante
      - → Quechua: ilijanti
      - → Tagalog: elepante
      - → Waray-Waray: elepante
- → Gothic: 𐌿𐌻𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (ulbandus) (uncertain; one of several theories)
  - → Proto-Slavic: *velьb(l)ǫdъ (see there for further descendants)
→ Albanian: elefant
→ Proto-Germanic: *ulbanduz (“camel”) (see there for further descendants)
→ Proto-West Germanic: *elpand (“elephant; ivory”) (see there for further descendants)
→ Middle French: elephant
- French: éléphant
  - Haitian Creole: elefan
  - → Romanian: elefant
- → Irish: eilifint
- → Norman: êléphant, éléphant
→ Middle High German: hëlfant
- Alemannic German: Elifant
- German: Elefant, Elephant
  - → Lower Sorbian: elefant
  - → Saterland Frisian: Elefant
- Luxembourgish: Elefant
- Vilamovian: elefaont
- Yiddish: העלפֿאַנד‎ (helfand)
→ Chukchi: эʼԓыпын (ėʼḷypyn)
→ Danish: elefant
→ Estonian: elevant
→ Finnish: elefantti
→ Hungarian: elefánt
→ Malagasy: elefanta
→ Maltese: iljunfant
→ Mezquital Otomi: elefante
→ Mukulu: 'elbi ?
→ Northern Sami: elefánta
→ Norwegian: elefant
→ Samoan: 'elefane
→ Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean
→ Upper Sorbian: elefant
→ Swedish: elefant
→ Tagalog: elepante
→ Võro: elevant'
→ West Frisian: oaljefant
→ Latvian: elefants
→ Faroese: elefantur
→ Low German: Elefant
→ Chamorro: elifante
→ Inuktitut: alipa
→ Limburgish: Olifante
→ Tuvaluan: elefane
→ Quechua: eliphanti
→ Latgalian: elefants
→ Silesian: elefant

References

elephas in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
“elephas”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
“elephas”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
“elephas”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin