τόπαζος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

τόπᾰζον (tópăzon)

Etymology

A loanword which, according to Pliny, was taken from the language of the Troglodytes, and named after an island of the same name in the Red Sea. However, according to Furnée, the existence of the gloss ταβάσιος (tabásios, “kind of stone”) proves a Pre-Greek origin of the word. Also compare Sanskrit तपस् (tapas, “fire, heat”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tó.paz.dos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈto.pa.zos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈto.pa.zos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈto.pa.zos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈto.pa.zos/

Noun

τόπᾰζος • (tópăzos) m (genitive τοπᾰ́ζου); second declension

gem of green hue, probably chrysolite or peridot

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ τόπᾰζος; τοῦ τοπᾰ́ζου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ τόπᾰζος ho tópăzos	τὼ τοπᾰ́ζω tṑ topắzō	οἱ τόπᾰζοι hoi tópăzoi
Genitive	τοῦ τοπᾰ́ζου toû topắzou	τοῖν τοπᾰ́ζοιν toîn topắzoin	τῶν τοπᾰ́ζων tôn topắzōn
Dative	τῷ τοπᾰ́ζῳ tōî topắzōi	τοῖν τοπᾰ́ζοιν toîn topắzoin	τοῖς τοπᾰ́ζοις toîs topắzois
Accusative	τὸν τόπᾰζον tòn tópăzon	τὼ τοπᾰ́ζω tṑ topắzō	τοὺς τοπᾰ́ζους toùs topắzous
Vocative	τόπᾰζε tópăze	τοπᾰ́ζω topắzō	τόπᾰζοι tópăzoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

τοπᾰ́ζῐον (topắzĭon)

Descendants

→ Latin: topazius (see there for further descendants)
→ Macedonian: топаз (topaz)
→ Russian: топа́з (topáz)
- → Kazakh: топаз (topaz)
→ Serbo-Croatian: topaz

References

^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “topaz”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.