βάτραχος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

  • βάθρακος (báthrakos) — Ionic
  • βότραχος (bótrakhos) — Ionic
  • βρόταχος (brótakhos) — Ionic

Etymology

Seemingly imitative of croaking, with original form something like *βρατ-αχ- (*brat-akh-),[1] but this imitation was probably not formed in Greek, but borrowed from Pre-Greek or Semitic; compare Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ (ṣəp̄ardḗaʿ), Arabic ضَفْدَع (ḍafdaʕ), considering that in the dialect of Zakynthos the frog is matching the Semitic with σπορδακάς (spordakás) – unless of course one must find that Semitic and Greek have borrowed from an unknown third.[2][3]

Concerning the wide range of dialectal variation, Beekes explains that much may be due to folk etymology or taboo, combined with other phonetic alterations such as vowel displacement and even prenasalization, which indicate substrate origin: “A priori, a local (i.e. Pre-Greek) form is to be expected for all of these forms; the variation α/ο points to this.”[1] The suffix *-χ- (*-kh-) is also found in names of other animals.

An older hypothesis (cf. Pokorny 1959) links Proto-West Germanic *krodu and Latin bruscus (“frog or toad”), all from a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *gʷredʰ- (“frog, toad”), supposing metathesis (cf. Ionic βρόταχος (brótakhos)) and an original *dʰ whence perhaps the /tʰ/ of the Ionic variant βάθρακος (báthrakos), but this is phonetically very difficult. Moreover, as Beekes explains, the form with /t/ is original, whereas Ionic frequently displaces aspiration in this way.

Pronunciation

 

Noun

βᾰ́τρᾰχος • (bắtrăkhos) m (genitive βᾰτρᾰ́χου); second declension

  1. frog (small hopping amphibian)
    • Aristophanes, Frogs, 207.
      βατράχων κύκνων θαυμαστά.
      batrákhōn kúknōn thaumastá.
      Most amazing [songs] by the swanlike frogs.
  2. anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius)
  3. frog (organ in horse's hoof)
    • Geoponica, 16, 1, 9.
      τὴν κεφαλὴν ἔχει [ὁ πώλος] μικράν..., βάτραχον μικρόν, ὄνυχα στερεόν.
      tḕn kephalḕn ékhei [ho pṓlos] mikrán..., bátrakhon mikrón, ónukha stereón.
      when [a colt] has a small head, a black eye...; a small frog, a solid hoof.

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος; τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου (Attic)
Case / # Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ὁ βᾰ́τρᾰχος
ho bắtrăkhos 		τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω
tṑ bătrắkhō 		οἱ βᾰ́τρᾰχοι
hoi bắtrăkhoi
Genitive τοῦ βᾰτρᾰ́χου
toû bătrắkhou 		τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν
toîn bătrắkhoin 		τῶν βᾰτρᾰ́χων
tôn bătrắkhōn
Dative τῷ βᾰτρᾰ́χῳ
tōî bătrắkhōi 		τοῖν βᾰτρᾰ́χοιν
toîn bătrắkhoin 		τοῖς βᾰτρᾰ́χοις
toîs bătrắkhois
Accusative τὸν βᾰ́τρᾰχον
tòn bắtrăkhon 		τὼ βᾰτρᾰ́χω
tṑ bătrắkhō 		τοὺς βᾰτρᾰ́χους
toùs bătrắkhous
Vocative βᾰ́τρᾰχε
bắtrăkhe 		βᾰτρᾰ́χω
bătrắkhō 		βᾰ́τρᾰχοι
bắtrăkhoi
Notes:
  • This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Greek: βάτραχος (vátrachos)
  • → English: batrachotoxin
  • Translingual: → Batrachus, ⇒ Batrachia, ⇒ Batrachorhina

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βάτραχος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 206-7
  2. ^ Brown, John Pairman (1995) Israel and Hellas (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft; 231), volume I, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, page 336
  3. ^ Brown, John Pairman (2000) Israel and Hellas (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft; 276), volume II, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, page 60

Further reading

Greek

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos, “frog”).

Noun

βάτραχος • (vátrachos) m (plural βάτραχοι)

  1. frog

Declension

Declension of βάτραχος
singular plural
nominative βάτραχος (vátrachos) βάτραχοι (vátrachoi)
genitive βατράχου (vatráchou) βατράχων (vatráchon)
accusative βάτραχο (vátracho) βατράχους (vatráchous)
vocative βάτραχε (vátrache) βάτραχοι (vátrachoi)

Derived terms

Further reading

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