χελιδών

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The irregular form and suffix -ιδ (-id) lead Beekes to suggest a Mediterranean Pre-Greek origin, as he doesn't find a connection to Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to cry out”) (cognate with Middle High German glien (“to cry”), Old High German gellan (“to cry”)) convincing. Compare also Latin hirundō (“swallow (bird)”), which may be from the same substrate source.^[1]

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /kʰe.liː.dɔ̌ːn/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /kʰe.liˈdon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /çe.liˈðon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /çe.liˈðon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /çe.liˈðon/

Noun

χελῑδών • (khelīdṓn) f (genitive χελῑδόνος); third declension

the swallow
the frog in a horse’s foot

Declension

Third declension of ἡ χελῑδών; τῆς χελῑδόνος (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ χελῑδών hē khelīdṓn	τὼ χελῑδόνε tṑ khelīdóne	αἱ χελῑδόνες hai khelīdónes
Genitive	τῆς χελῑδόνος tês khelīdónos	τοῖν χελῑδόνοιν toîn khelīdónoin	τῶν χελῑδόνων tôn khelīdónōn
Dative	τῇ χελῑδόνῐ tēî khelīdónĭ	τοῖν χελῑδόνοιν toîn khelīdónoin	ταῖς χελῑδόσῐ / χελῑδόσῐν taîs khelīdósĭ(n)
Accusative	τὴν χελῑδόνᾰ tḕn khelīdónă	τὼ χελῑδόνε tṑ khelīdóne	τᾱ̀ς χελῑδόνᾰς tā̀s khelīdónăs
Vocative	χελῑδοῖ khelīdoî	χελῑδόνε khelīdóne	χελῑδόνες khelīdónes
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

μία χελιδὼν ἔαρ οὐ ποιεῖ (mía khelidṑn éar ou poieî)
χελῑδόνῐος (khelīdónĭos)
χελῑδόνῐον (khelīdónĭon)

Descendants

Latin: chelīdōn

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χελῑδών, -όνος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1622-3

“χελιδών”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“χελιδών”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
“χελιδών”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
χελιδών in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
χελιδών in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- swallow idem, page 846.
- swift idem, page 848.

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χελῑδών, -όνος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1622-3

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