τήθυον
Ancient Greek
Alternative forms
- τήθεον (tḗtheon)
Etymology
Kalén assumes earlier *θή-θυον (*thḗ-thuon) and connects the word with θάω (tháō, “to suck”) and θύλακος (thúlakos, “sack”). This explanation is nonsensical and typical of older Greek etymologies. According to Beekes, it is more probably a Pre-Greek word, given the variation υ/ε.
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /tɛ̌ː.tʰy.on/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈte̝.tʰy.on/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈti.θy.on/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈti.θy.on/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈti.θi.on/
Noun
τήθῠον • (tḗthŭon) n (genitive τηθῠ́ου); second declension
- sea squirt (tunicate of the class Ascidiacea)
Inflection
| Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | τὸ τήθῠον tò tḗthŭon |
τὼ τηθῠ́ω tṑ tēthŭ́ō |
τᾰ̀ τήθῠᾰ tằ tḗthŭă | ||||||||||
| Genitive | τοῦ τηθῠ́ου toû tēthŭ́ou |
τοῖν τηθῠ́οιν toîn tēthŭ́oin |
τῶν τηθῠ́ων tôn tēthŭ́ōn | ||||||||||
| Dative | τῷ τηθῠ́ῳ tōî tēthŭ́ōi |
τοῖν τηθῠ́οιν toîn tēthŭ́oin |
τοῖς τηθῠ́οις toîs tēthŭ́ois | ||||||||||
| Accusative | τὸ τήθῠον tò tḗthŭon |
τὼ τηθῠ́ω tṑ tēthŭ́ō |
τᾰ̀ τήθῠᾰ tằ tḗthŭă | ||||||||||
| Vocative | τήθῠον tḗthŭon |
τηθῠ́ω tēthŭ́ō |
τήθῠᾰ tḗthŭă | ||||||||||
| Notes: |
| ||||||||||||
Descendants
- → Translingual: Tethya
Further reading
- “τήθυον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- τήθυον 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