Περσεφόνη
Ancient Greek
Alternative forms
- Περρέφαττα (Perrhéphatta) – Plato
- Περσεφόνεια (Persephóneia) – Homeric Hymns
- Περσέφαττα (Perséphatta) – verse
- Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) – Magna Graecia
- Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē) – Magna Graecia
- Φερέπαφα (Pherépapha) – Plato, Cratylus
- Φερσέφαττα (Pherséphatta) – archaic, verse
Etymology
Possibly composed of the Proto-Indo-European elements *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”, whence also Sanskrit पर्ष (parṣá-) and perhaps Latin porrum) + *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike down, slay”, compare φόνος (phónos, “killer”)) + *-eh₂ (a suffix of feminine agent nouns), thus originally meaning “female thresher of corn”.[1] Compare Rigvedic पर्षान् हन्ति (parṣā́n hanti, “to thresh ears of corn”). Alternativly, from Proto-Indo-European *pers-é-bʰ(h₂)n̥t-ih₂ (“she who brings the light through”). akin to Albanian Prenda,[2]
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /per.se.pʰó.nɛː/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /per.seˈpʰo.ne̝/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /per.seˈɸo.ni/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /per.seˈfo.ni/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /per.seˈfo.ni/
Proper noun
Περσεφόνη • (Persephónē) f (genitive Περσεφόνης); first declension
- Persephone; Proserpina
Inflection
First declension of ἡ Περσεφόνη; τῆς Περσεφόνης (Attic)
| Case / # | Singular | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ἡ Περσεφόνη hē Persephónē | ||||||||||||
| Genitive | τῆς Περσεφόνης tês Persephónēs | ||||||||||||
| Dative | τῇ Περσεφόνῃ têi Persephónēi | ||||||||||||
| Accusative | τὴν Περσεφόνην tḕn Persephónēn | ||||||||||||
| Vocative | Περσεφόνη Persephónē | ||||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
Descendants
- → Bengali: পার্সিফোন (parsiphon)
- → Breton: Persefone
- → Bulgarian: Персефона (Persefona)
- → Catalan: Persèfone
- → Coptic: ⲡⲉⲣⲥⲉⲫⲟⲛⲏ (persephonē)
- → Czech: Persefona
- → Danish: Persefone
- → Dutch: Persephone
- → English: Persephone
- → Finnish: Persefone
- → French: Perséphone
- → German: Persephone
- Greek: Περσεφόνη (Persefóni)
- → Hebrew: פרספונה (Persefone)
- → Hindi: पर्सिफ़ोनी (parsifonī)
- → Hungarian: Perszephoné
- → Italian: Persefone
- → Japanese: ペルセポネー (Peruseponē)
- → Korean: 페르세포네 (Pereusepone)
- → Latin: Persephone
- → Lithuanian: Persefonė
- → Luxembourgish: Persephone
- → Norwegian: Persephone
- → Polish: Persefona
- → Portuguese: Perséfone
- → Romanian: Persefona
- → Russian: Персефо́на (Persefóna)
- → Serbo-Croatian: Персефона/Persefona
- → Sicilian: Pirsèfuni
- → Spanish: Perséfone
- → Swedish: Persefone
- → Turkish: Persephone
- → Ukrainian: Персефо́на (Persefóna)
Further reading
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “Περσεφόνη”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1179–1180
- Hyllested, A., & Joseph, B. (2022). Albanian. In T. Olander (Ed.), The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective (pp. 223-245). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108758666.013
- “Περσεφόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “Περσεφόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Περσεφόνη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,020
Greek
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /perseˈfoni/
Proper noun
Περσεφόνη • (Persefóni) f (plural Persefóni)
- (Greek mythology) Persephone
- female given name