ψέφας
Ancient Greek
Alternative forms
- ψέφος (pséphos)
Etymology
A rhyming formation to κνέφας (knéphas). Usually Sanskrit क्षप् (kṣáp, “night”) is considered to be somehow related, but a precise connection cannot be established. Furnée takes σεῖφα (seîpha, “darkness, gloom”) as a shortened form of this word and also suggests to connect ζέφυρος (zéphuros, “west wind”). The variations would point to a Pre-Greek origin.
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /psé.pʰas/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈpse.pʰas/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈpse.ɸas/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈpse.fas/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈpse.fas/
Noun
ψέφᾰς • (pséphas) n (genitive ψέφᾰος); third declension
- gloom, darkness
- Synonyms: δνόφος (dnóphos), ζόφος (zóphos), κνέφας (knéphas), σκοτία (skotía)
Declension
Third declension of τὸ ψέφᾰς; τοῦ ψέφᾰος (contracted, Attic)
Case / # | Singular | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | τὸ ψέφᾰς tò pséphas | ||||||||||||
Genitive | τοῦ ψέφᾰος toû pséphaos | ||||||||||||
Dative | τῷ ψέφᾰῐ̈ tôi pséphaï | ||||||||||||
Accusative | τὸ ψέφᾰς tò pséphas | ||||||||||||
Vocative | ψέφᾰς pséphas | ||||||||||||
Notes: |
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Derived terms
- ψεφαῖος (psephaîos)
- ψεφαρός (psepharós)
- ψεφαυγοῦς (psephaugoûs)
- ψεφηνός (psephēnós)
- ψεφοειδής (psephoeidḗs)
Further reading
- “ψέφας”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ψέφας 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