Κύπρος

Originally a Northwest Semitic goddess name from the root כ־ב־ר / ك ب ر (k b r) which is attested as Arabic الْكُبْرَى (al-kubrā, literally “the great”) in a variant reading of Sura 62, Aya 9.^[1]

The island of Cyprus was a major source of copper during the Near East’s Bronze Age, so the Semitic name of this goddess’s local cult became associated with the copper metal and with the island of Cyprus itself. The Ancient Greek term is notably cognate with Sumerian 𒌓𒅗𒁇 (ud-ka-bar /⁠zabar, kabar⁠/, “bronze, copper”), Eblaite 𒂵𒁀𒈝 (ga-ba-lum /⁠kabalum⁠/, “copper”), Hurrian [script needed] (kabali, kābli, “copper”), and Latin aes Cyprium (“Cypriot copper”), later cuprum. Further compare Cypria, Cypris, alternative Latin names for the goddess Venus (Aphrodite).

Unrelated to the words for the Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) κυπάρισσος and the word for the plant henna (Lawsonia alba) κύπρος (kúpros), though the latter is also red in color.

Κῠ́προς • (Kŭ́pros) f (genitive Κῠ́πρου); second declension

1. Cyprus (an island in the Mediterranean Sea)

• Greek: Κύπρος (Kýpros)
• → Arabic: قُبْرُص (qubruṣ)
• → Latin: Cyprus
  • English: Cyprus
  • French: Chypre, Cypre (archaic)
  • Italian: Cipro

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “Κύπρος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 805, according to whom possibly from a Pre-Greek language
• “Κύπρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Κύπρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “Κύπρος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• “Κύπρος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G2954 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[2], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • cyprus idem, page 193.
• 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
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[3], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,007
• “Στέφ. Βυζ. Ἐθν. σ.λ. Κύπρος (Κωνστ. Πορφ. Περὶ θεμ. 1.13)”, in Ψηφιακή Αρχαία Κυπριακή Γραμματεία‎^[4], 6 December 2017 (last accessed), archived from the original on 5 October 2017, ancient etymologies about the origin of the island's name by Stephanus of Byzantium in his work Ἐθνικά

Inherited from Ancient Greek Κύπρος (Kúpros), already with connections to Sumerian 𒌓𒅗𒁇 (ud-ka-bar /⁠zabar, kabar⁠/, “bronze, copper”) for the island's copper mines at the time (see Latin Cyprius) and an Mycenaean Greek adjective 𐀓𐀠𐀪𐀍 (ku-pi-ri-jo, “Cypriot”).^[1] For more, see the etymology of ancient Κύπρος (Kúpros).

• Standard: IPA^(key): /ˈci.pɾos/
• (Cyprus) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi.pros/

Κύπρος • (Kýpros) f

1. Cyprus (an island and country in the Mediterranean Sea, normally considered politically part of Southeast Europe but geographically part of Western Asia)

In the Cypriot dialect, also in Standard Modern Greek: