σφενδόνη

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The formation is similar to ἀγχόνη (ankhónē), βελόνη (belónē) and περόνη (perónē). Often connected with σφεδανός (sphedanós), σφοδρός (sphodrós), σφαδάζω (sphadázō) and with Sanskrit स्पन्दते (spandate, “to vibrate, tremble, quake”). Further often compared with Latin funda (“sling”), which would point to a loan from common source. This source is likely to have been Pre-Greek

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /spʰen.dó.nɛː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /spʰenˈdo.ne̝/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /sɸenˈdo.ni/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /sfenˈdo.ni/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /sfenˈdo.ni/

Noun

σφενδόνη • (sphendónē) f (genitive σφενδόνης); first declension

a sling
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 13.600
- 680 BCE – 645 BCE, Archilochus, Collected Works 3
- 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 1142
- 414 BCE, Aristophanes, The Birds 1185
- 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.32
- 408 BCE – 334 BCE, Antiphanes Comicus, Collected Works 55.19
1. a sling as part of a crane used in unloading ships
  - SIG 241
  - A 46
  - 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1010
anything fundiform:
1. (medicine) a sling:
  1. for a disabled arm
    - 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On Joints 16
  2. a suspensory abdominal bandage
    - 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, On the Nature of the Woman 2.144
    - 50 CE – 150 CE, Soranus, Fasc. 48
2. a headband worn by women, broad in front
  - Poll. 5.96
  - 1115 – 1195, Eustathius of Thessalonica, ad D.P. 7
3. a bezel, a collet (the hoop of a ring in which the gemstone is set as in a sling; especially, the outer or broader part round the stone)
  - 428 BCE, Euripides, Hippolytus 862
  - 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 359e
  - 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, Physics 207a.3
4. a sclera (the white of an eye)
  - 100 CE – 200 CE, Pollux, Onomasticon 2.70
a slingstone (a stone, bullet, or other such missile or projectile thrown by a sling)
Synonym: χερμᾰ́ς (khermás)
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 3.4.4
- 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 5.2.14
1. a hailstone
  - 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 1125

Declension

First declension of ἡ σφενδόνη; τῆς σφενδόνης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ σφενδόνη hē sphendónē	τὼ σφενδόνᾱ tṑ sphendónā	αἱ σφενδόναι hai sphendónai
Genitive	τῆς σφενδόνης tês sphendónēs	τοῖν σφενδόναιν toîn sphendónain	τῶν σφενδονῶν tôn sphendonôn
Dative	τῇ σφενδόνῃ têi sphendónēi	τοῖν σφενδόναιν toîn sphendónain	ταῖς σφενδόναις taîs sphendónais
Accusative	τὴν σφενδόνην tḕn sphendónēn	τὼ σφενδόνᾱ tṑ sphendónā	τᾱ̀ς σφενδόνᾱς tā̀s sphendónās
Vocative	σφενδόνη sphendónē	σφενδόνᾱ sphendónā	σφενδόναι sphendónai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

βελοσφενδόνη (belosphendónē)
κεστροσφενδόνη (kestrosphendónē)
σφενδονάω (sphendonáō)
σφενδονέω (sphendonéō)
σφενδονηδόν (sphendonēdón)
σφενδόνησις (sphendónēsis)
σφενδονήτης (sphendonḗtēs)
σφενδονητικός (sphendonētikós)
σφενδονίζω (sphendonízō)
σφενδονίστης (sphendonístēs)
σφενδονοειδής (sphendonoeidḗs)

Descendants

Greek: σφεντόνα (sfentóna)

References

“σφενδόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“σφενδόνη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
σφενδόνη 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, →ISBN