βύβλος

See also: Βύβλος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

βῐ́βλος (bĭ́blos) — Attic

Etymology

Traditionally derived from Βύβλος (Búblos, “Byblos (ancient city)”) (whence it was imported). However, it has been suggested that the town was named after this word rather than the other way around (which would render the Semitic etymologies given for the town name as folk etymology), and that the word is of Pre-Greek origin.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /bý.blos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈby.blos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈβy.βlos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈvy.vlos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈvi.vlos/

Noun

βῠ́βλος • (bŭ́blos) f (genitive βῠ́βλου); second declension

papyrus (both in reference to the plant and writings using the paper-like material derived from the plant)
book

Declension

Second declension of ἡ βῠ́βλος; τῆς βῠ́βλου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ βῠ́βλος hē bŭ́blos	τὼ βῠ́βλω tṑ bŭ́blō	αἱ βῠ́βλοι hai bŭ́bloi
Genitive	τῆς βῠ́βλου tês bŭ́blou	τοῖν βῠ́βλοιν toîn bŭ́bloin	τῶν βῠ́βλων tôn bŭ́blōn
Dative	τῇ βῠ́βλῳ tēî bŭ́blōi	τοῖν βῠ́βλοιν toîn bŭ́bloin	ταῖς βῠ́βλοις taîs bŭ́blois
Accusative	τὴν βῠ́βλον tḕn bŭ́blon	τὼ βῠ́βλω tṑ bŭ́blō	τᾱ̀ς βῠ́βλους tā̀s bŭ́blous
Vocative	βῠ́βλε bŭ́ble	βῠ́βλω bŭ́blō	βῠ́βλοι bŭ́bloi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

βύβλινος (búblinos)
βυβλίον (bublíon)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βύβλος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 246-7

“βύβλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“βύβλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
βύβλος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
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
βύβλος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
G976 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- papyrus idem, page 591.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “βύβλος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 246-7

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