Βρεντέσιον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

  • Βρεντήσιον (Brentḗsion)

Etymology

Said by ancient sources (e.g. Strabo) to be a corruption of the Messapic word for the head of a male deer (see βρέντιον, βρένδος), possibly based on the shape of the port. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrendos (“stag, red deer”). Smith noted: "It seems probable that the real native word was Brendon or Brenda ... whence Festus tells us that Brenda was used by some writers as a poetic form for Brundusium."[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

 

Proper noun

Βρεντέσιον • (Brentésion) n (genitive Βρεντεσίου); second declension

  1. Brindisi (a city in southern Italy)
    • c. 7 BCE, Strabo, Geography (Loeb Classical Library), published 1924, 6.3.6:
      καὶ εὐλίμενον δὲ μᾶλλον τὸ Βρεντέσιον: ἑνὶ γὰρ στόματι πολλοὶ κλείονται λιμένες ἄκλυστοι, κόλπων ἀπολαμβανομένων ἐντός, ὥστ’ ἐοικέναι κέρασιν ἐλάφου τὸ σχῆμα, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ τοὔνομα: σὺν γὰρ τῇ πόλει κεφαλῇ μάλιστα ἐλάφου προσέοικεν ὁ τόπος, τῇ δὲ Μεσσαπίᾳ γλώττῃ βρέντιον ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ ἐλάφου καλεῖται.
      kaì eulímenon dè mâllon tò Brentésion: henì gàr stómati polloì kleíontai liménes áklustoi, kólpōn apolambanoménōn entós, hṓst’ eoikénai kérasin eláphou tò skhêma, aph’ hoû kaì toúnoma: sùn gàr tēî pólei kephalēî málista eláphou proséoiken ho tópos, tēî dè Messapíāi glṓttēi bréntion hē kephalḕ toû eláphou kaleîtai.
      Brentesium is also better supplied with harbors; for here many harbors are closed in by one mouth; and they are sheltered from the waves, because bays are formed inside in such a way as to resemble in shape a stag's horns; and hence the name, for, along with the city, the place very much resembles a stag's head, and in the Messapian language the head of the stag is called "brentesium."

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ Βρεντέσιον; τοῦ Βρεντεσίου (Attic)
Case / # Singular
Nominative τὸ Βρεντέσιον
tò Brentésion
Genitive τοῦ Βρεντεσίου
toû Brentesíou
Dative τῷ Βρεντεσίῳ
tōî Brentesíōi
Accusative τὸ Βρεντέσιον
tò Brentésion
Vocative Βρεντέσιον
Brentésion
Notes:
  • This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

  • Greek: Βρεντέσιο (Vrentésio), Βρεντέσιον (Vrentésion)
  • → Latin: Brundisium, Brundusium
  • → Latin: Brenda
    • Italian: Brindisi
    • Neapolitan: Brinnese
      Tarantino: Brinnese
    • Sicilian: Brìnnisi, Brìndisi

References

  1. ^ “Brundisium”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
  2. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, “Βρένδον”, in Γλώσσαι/Β
  3. ^ Festus, ed. Müller, 1839: p. 33

Further reading

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