Ξενοφῶν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

ξένος (xénos, “guest”) +‎ φῶν (phôn, “shining”), the latter contracted from φάων (pháōn), explaining the accentuation, participle of φάω (pháō, “I shine”). The word φῶν (phôn) was indirectly attested in the works of Hesychios of Alexandria, where the accusative form φῶντα (phônta) was equated to λάμποντα (lámponta) from λάμπω (lámpō, “I shine”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kse.no.pʰɔ̂ːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kse.noˈpʰon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /kse.noˈɸon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /kse.noˈfon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /kse.noˈfon/

Proper noun

Ξενοφῶν • (Xenophôn) m (genitive Ξενοφῶντος); third declension

a male given name, Xenophon, notably borne by Xenophon of Athens

Declension

Third declension of ὁ Ξενοφῶν; τοῦ Ξενοφῶντος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular
Nominative	ὁ Ξενοφῶν ho Xenophôn
Genitive	τοῦ Ξενοφῶντος toû Xenophôntos
Dative	τῷ Ξενοφῶντῐ tōî Xenophôntĭ
Accusative	τὸν Ξενοφῶντᾰ tòn Xenophôntă
Vocative	Ξενοφῶν Xenophôn
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

Ξενοφώντειος (Xenophṓnteios), Ξενοφόντειος (Xenophónteios)

Descendants

Albanian: Ksenofón
Armenian: Քսենոփոն (Kʻsenopʻon)
Greek: Ξενοφών (Xenofón), Ξενοφώντας (Xenofóntas)
Latin: Xenophōn

References

“Ξενοφῶν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“Ξενοφῶν”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited, page 1,029