σπεῖρα
Ancient Greek
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to twist”) and so cognate with σπάρτον (spárton, “rope, cable”) and σπεῖρον (speîron, “shroud”).
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /spêː.raː/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈspi.ra/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈspi.ra/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈspi.ra/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈspi.ra/
Noun
σπεῖρα • (speîra) f (genitive σπείρᾱς); first declension
- Anything twisted or wound
- (in the plural) The coils or spires of snakes
- A rope, a cord
- A knot or curl in wood
- (architecture) The torus of a column
Declension
First declension of ἡ σπείρᾱ; τῆς σπείρᾱς (Attic)
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ἡ σπείρᾱ hē speírā | τὼ σπείρᾱ tṑ speírā | αἱ σπεῖραι hai speîrai | ||||||||||
Genitive | τῆς σπείρᾱς tês speírās | τοῖν σπείραιν toîn speírain | τῶν σπειρῶν tôn speirôn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῇ σπείρᾳ têi speírāi | τοῖν σπείραιν toîn speírain | ταῖς σπείραις taîs speírais | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὴν σπείρᾱν tḕn speírān | τὼ σπείρᾱ tṑ speírā | τᾱ̀ς σπείρᾱς tā̀s speírās | ||||||||||
Vocative | σπείρᾱ speírā | σπείρᾱ speírā | σπεῖραι speîrai | ||||||||||
Notes: |
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Derived terms
- σπειρίον (speiríon)
- σπειρικός (speirikós)
- σπειρίτης (speirítēs)
- σπειρηδόν (speirēdón)
- σπειράομαι (speiráomai)
Descendants
- Greek: σπείρα (speíra)
- Latin: spīra
References
- σπεῖρα in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- σπεῖρα in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- σπεῖρα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill