σφήν
Ancient Greek
Etymology
Unknown. Has been linked to Sanskrit स्फ्य (sphya, “oar; spar”) and Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, shaving”), but this is phonologically impossible due to the aspirated labial (/pʰ/) in Greek.[1] Pre-Greek origin is likely.
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /spʰɛ̌ːn/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /spʰe̝n/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /sɸin/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /sfin/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /sfin/
Noun
σφήν • (sphḗn) m (genitive σφηνός); third declension
- wedge (part of a simple machine); also used as an instrument of torture
- 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 64:
- ἀδαμαντίνου νῦν σφηνὸς αὐθάδη γνάθον στέρνων διαμπὰξ πασσάλευ' ἐῤῥωμένως
- adamantínou nûn sphēnòs authádē gnáthon stérnōn diampàx passáleu' errhōménōs
- ἀδαμαντίνου νῦν σφηνὸς αὐθάδη γνάθον στέρνων διαμπὰξ πασσάλευ' ἐῤῥωμένως
Inflection
Third declension of ὁ σφήν; τοῦ σφηνός (Attic)
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ὁ σφήν ho sphḗn | τὼ σφῆνε tṑ sphêne | οἱ σφῆνες hoi sphênes | ||||||||||
Genitive | τοῦ σφηνός toû sphēnós | τοῖν σφηνοῖν toîn sphēnoîn | τῶν σφηνῶν tôn sphēnôn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῷ σφηνῐ́ tôi sphēní | τοῖν σφηνοῖν toîn sphēnoîn | τοῖς σφησῐ́ / σφησῐ́ν toîs sphēsí(n) | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὸν σφῆνᾰ tòn sphêna | τὼ σφῆνε tṑ sphêne | τοὺς σφῆνᾰς toùs sphênas | ||||||||||
Vocative | σφήν sphḗn | σφῆνε sphêne | σφῆνες sphênes | ||||||||||
Notes: |
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Derived terms
- ᾰ̓ντῐσφήν (antisphḗn)
- ἐνσφηνόομαι (ensphēnóomai)
- ἐπῐ́σφηνος (epísphēnos)
- κᾰτᾰσφηνόομαι (katasphēnóomai)
- πᾰρᾰσφήνῐον (parasphḗnion)
- σφηνᾰ́ρῐον (sphēnárion)
- σφηνεύς (sphēneús)
- σφηνῐ́σκος (sphēnískos)
- σφηνοειδής (sphēnoeidḗs)
- σφηνοκέφᾰλος (sphēnoképhalos)
- σφηνόπους (sphēnópous)
- σφηνοπώγων (sphēnopṓgōn)
- σφηνόω (sphēnóō)
Descendants
Descendants of σφήν in other languages
- → Arabic: إِسْفِين (ʾisfīn), سَفِين (safīn), سَفَن (safan)
- → Classical Syriac: ܣܦܝܢܐ (sp̄īnā), ܐܣܦܢܐ (ʾespēnā)
- ⇒ English: spheno-, sphen-
- → French: sphène
- → English: sphene
- → Romanian: sfen
- Greek: σφήνα (sfína)
References
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “σφήν, σφηνός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1430
- “σφήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “σφήν”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “σφήν”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
- σφήν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- “σφήν”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
- G3816 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- wedge idem, page 971.
- Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “σφήν”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
- University of Helsinki “*s”, in Proto-Indo-European Lexicon