βαλαύστιον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

βαλώστιον (balṓstion)

Etymology

Put by Beekes as acquired via Pre-Greek, because of the αυ/ω variation,^[1] together with βάλαρις (bálaris, an unclear plant), βαλλωτή (ballōtḗ, “black horehound”), βάλλις (bállis, “a plant with wonderful medicinal properties”).

Given its late date, however explained as a Semitic borrowing close to Classical Syriac ܒܠܳܨܳܐ (blāṣā, “bud, shoot; the part of a pomegranate fruit when it ripened to split”)^[2]^[3] to the satisfaction of 19th-century philologists^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] already. See also Arabic رُمَّان (rummān) for another difficult pomegranate term.

Pronunciation

(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /baˈlaʍs.ti.on/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βaˈlaɸs.ti.on/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /vaˈlafs.ti.on/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /vaˈlafs.ti.on/

Noun

βαλαύστιον • (balaústion) n (genitive βαλαυστίου); second declension

flower of the wild pomegranate
Synonym: κύτινος (kútinos)

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ βαλαύστιον; τοῦ βαλαυστίου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ βαλαύστιον tò balaústion	τὼ βαλαυστίω tṑ balaustíō	τᾰ̀ βαλαύστιᾰ tằ balaústiă
Genitive	τοῦ βαλαυστίου toû balaustíou	τοῖν βαλαυστίοιν toîn balaustíoin	τῶν βαλαυστίων tôn balaustíōn
Dative	τῷ βαλαυστίῳ tōî balaustíōi	τοῖν βαλαυστίοιν toîn balaustíoin	τοῖς βαλαυστίοις toîs balaustíois
Accusative	τὸ βαλαύστιον tò balaústion	τὼ βαλαυστίω tṑ balaustíō	τᾰ̀ βαλαύστιᾰ tằ balaústiă
Vocative	βαλαύστιον balaústion	βαλαυστίω balaustíō	βαλαύστιᾰ balaústiă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

βαλαυστιουργός (balaustiourgós)
βαλαύστρινος (balaústrinos)

Descendants

Latin: balaustium
- → Italian: balaustro

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βαλαύστιον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 195-6
^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009) A Syriac Lexicon: A Translation from the Latin, Correction, Expansion, and Update of C. Brockelmann's Lexicon Syriacum, Winona Lake, Indiana, Piscataway, New Jersey: Eisenbrauns; Gorgias Press, →ISBN, page 160
^ “blṣ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
^ Fischer-Benzon, Rudolf von (1894) Altdeutsche Gartenflora (in German), Kiel und Leipzig: Lipsius & Tischer, page 35
^ Hehn, Victor with Schrader, Otto (1911) Kulturpflanzen und Haustiere in ihrem Übergang aus Asien nach Griechenland und Italien sowie in das übrige Europa‎^[1] (in German), 8^th edition, Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger, page 248
^ Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 25
^ Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen‎^[2] (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, →DOI, page 364
^ Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[3] (in German), volume 3, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 92-93
^ Nöldeke, Theodor (1881) “Löw, Imm.: aramäische Pflanzennamen, Leipzig, 1881. Engelmann (VIII, 490 S. Lex. 8) M. 20”, in Literarisches Centralblatt für Deutschland‎^[4] (in German), volume 32, number 22, column 768