μέσπιλον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

μεσπίλη (mespílē)

Etymology

A loanword of Pre-Greek origin^[1] because no Indo-European cognates can be found, as plant names are more frequently borrowed and, particularly concerning this term, the medlar is native to the regions of Iran, southwest Asia and southeastern Europe and its Black Sea coasts so that it was unknown to the speakers of Proto-Indo-European and borrowing became necessary. Possibly a cognate to Proto-Kartvelian *sxmarṭl- (“medlar”) with metathesis of the initial consonants.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /més.pi.lon/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmes.pi.lon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmes.pi.lon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmes.pi.lon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈmes.pi.lon/

Noun

μέσπιλον • (méspilon) n (genitive μεσπίλου); second declension

medlar (Mespilus germanica)
Synonyms: ἐπῐμηλῐ́ς (epĭmēlĭ́s), σητᾰ́νῐον (sētắnĭon)

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ μέσπῐλον; τοῦ μεσπῐ́λου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ μέσπῐλον tò méspĭlon	τὼ μεσπῐ́λω tṑ mespĭ́lō	τᾰ̀ μέσπῐλᾰ tằ méspĭlă
Genitive	τοῦ μεσπῐ́λου toû mespĭ́lou	τοῖν μεσπῐ́λοιν toîn mespĭ́loin	τῶν μεσπῐ́λων tôn mespĭ́lōn
Dative	τῷ μεσπῐ́λῳ tōî mespĭ́lōi	τοῖν μεσπῐ́λοιν toîn mespĭ́loin	τοῖς μεσπῐ́λοις toîs mespĭ́lois
Accusative	τὸ μέσπῐλον tò méspĭlon	τὼ μεσπῐ́λω tṑ mespĭ́lō	τᾰ̀ μέσπῐλᾰ tằ méspĭlă
Vocative	μέσπῐλον méspĭlon	μεσπῐ́λω mespĭ́lō	μέσπῐλᾰ méspĭlă
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Descendants

Byzantine Greek: μούσπουλον (moúspoulon)
- Greek: μούσμουλο (moúsmoulo) (see there for further descendants)
→ Latin: mespilum, mespila, *nespila, *nespira, *nespirum (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1970) “μέσπιλον”, in Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 215