κισσός

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

κιττός (kittós)

Etymology

According to Beekes, from Pre-Greek. Furnée compares κιθάρα (kithára), in the sense of "ivy".

Janda^[1] derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *kitw-ó-, interpreted as “belonging to a tree, mark, sacrificial post”, ultimately from *keyt- (“shine, glow”). He connects the Greek word to Sanskrit केतु (ketú, “brightness, rays of light, apparition, sign, mark, flag”) in the sense of “sacrificial post”, used synonymously with Sanskrit केतु (sváru, “large piece of wood, stake, sacrificial post”), furthermore to Old Norse Heiðrún and heiðvanr (“holy, connected to heaven”). Both the adjective and the mythical goat from Norse mythology are associated with the cosmological ash tree Yggdrasil.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kis.sós/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kisˈsos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /cisˈsos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /cisˈsos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ciˈsos/

Noun

κισσός • (kissós) m (genitive κισσοῦ); second declension

ivy (Hedera helix), sacred to Dionysus

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ κισσός; τοῦ κισσοῦ (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ κισσός ho kissós	τὼ κισσώ tṑ kissṓ	οἱ κισσοί hoi kissoí
Genitive	τοῦ κισσοῦ toû kissoû	τοῖν κισσοῖν toîn kissoîn	τῶν κισσῶν tôn kissôn
Dative	τῷ κισσῷ tōî kissōî	τοῖν κισσοῖν toîn kissoîn	τοῖς κισσοῖς toîs kissoîs
Accusative	τὸν κισσόν tòn kissón	τὼ κισσώ tṑ kissṓ	τοὺς κισσούς toùs kissoús
Vocative	κισσέ kissé	κισσώ kissṓ	κισσοί kissoí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

κισσάμπελος (kissámpelos)
κισσδέτης (kissdétēs)
κισσειδής (kisseidḗs)
κισσεοχαίτης (kisseokhaítēs)
κισσεύς (kisseús)
κισσήεις (kissḗeis)
κισσηρεφής (kissērephḗs)
κίσσινος (kíssinos)
κισσίον (kissíon)
κισσόβρυος (kissóbruos)
κισσοκόμης (kissokómēs)
κισσοκόρυμβος (kissokórumbos)
κισσόπλεκτος (kissóplektos)
κισσοποίητος (kissopoíētos)
κισσοστέφανος (kissostéphanos)
κισσοστεφής (kissostephḗs)
κισσοτόμος (kissotómos)
κισσοφάγος (kissophágos)
κισσοφορέω (kissophoréō)
κισσοφορία (kissophoría)
κισσοφόρος (kissophóros)
κισσόφυλλον (kissóphullon)
κισσοχαρής (kissokharḗs)
κισσοχίτων (kissokhítōn)
κισσόω (kissóō)
κισσώδης (kissṓdēs)
κισσών (kissṓn)
κίσσωσις (kíssōsis)
μαλακόκισσος (malakókissos)

Descendants

Greek: κισσός (kissós)
→ Arabic: قِسُّوس (qissūs)
- → Old Spanish: caçuz (not to be confused with descendants of عِرْق السُوس (ʕirq as-sūs))

References

^ Michael Janda, Die Musik nach dem Chaos. Der Schöpfungsmythos der europäischen Vorzeit, Innsbruck 2010, pp. 151–154, 159–162

“κισσός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“κισσός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
κισσός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

[1] Michael Janda, Die Musik nach dem Chaos. Der Schöpfungsmythos der europäischen Vorzeit, Innsbruck 2010, pp. 151–154, 159–162

[1]