σίλφη
Ancient Greek
Alternative forms
- τῐ́λφη (tĭ́lphē)
Etymology
The variant could be an artificial Atticism or show a Pre-Greek alternation σ-/τ-. The form semantically and formally resembles σέρφος (sérphos, “small winged insect”), while Furnée connects Latin delpa (“kind of insect”).
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /síl.pʰɛː/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈsil.pʰe̝/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈsil.ɸi/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈsil.fi/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈsil.fi/
Noun
σῐ́λφη • (sĭ́lphē) f (genitive σῐ́λφης); first declension
Inflection
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ἡ σῐ́λφη hē sĭ́lphē |
τὼ σῐ́λφᾱ tṑ sĭ́lphā |
αἱ σῐ́λφαι hai sĭ́lphai | ||||||||||
| Genitive | τῆς σῐ́λφης tês sĭ́lphēs |
τοῖν σῐ́λφαιν toîn sĭ́lphain |
τῶν σῐλφῶν tôn sĭlphôn | ||||||||||
| Dative | τῇ σῐ́λφῃ tēî sĭ́lphēi |
τοῖν σῐ́λφαιν toîn sĭ́lphain |
ταῖς σῐ́λφαις taîs sĭ́lphais | ||||||||||
| Accusative | τὴν σῐ́λφην tḕn sĭ́lphēn |
τὼ σῐ́λφᾱ tṑ sĭ́lphā |
τᾱ̀ς σῐ́λφᾱς tā̀s sĭ́lphās | ||||||||||
| Vocative | σῐ́λφη sĭ́lphē |
σῐ́λφᾱ sĭ́lphā |
σῐ́λφαι sĭ́lphai | ||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
Descendants
- → Translingual: Silpha
Further reading
- “σίλφη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- σίλφη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σίλφη”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1332