ἀφία

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The connection with ἀφιέναι (aphiénai, “flowers”) is untenable. Krahe connects the word with Latin apium (“parsley”) but these are quite different plants. Furnée proposes a connection with ἄφρισσα (áphrissa, “dragonwort”) suggesting a Pre-Greek origin.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /a.pʰí.aː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /aˈpʰi.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /aˈɸi.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /aˈfi.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /aˈfi.a/

Noun

ἀφίᾱ • (aphíā) f (genitive ἀφίᾱς); first declension

lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)

Inflection

First declension of ἡ ἀφίᾱ; τῆς ἀφίᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ ἀφίᾱ hē aphíā	τὼ ἀφίᾱ tṑ aphíā	αἱ ἀφίαι hai aphíai
Genitive	τῆς ἀφίᾱς tês aphíās	τοῖν ἀφίαιν toîn aphíain	τῶν ἀφιῶν tôn aphiôn
Dative	τῇ ἀφίᾳ tēî aphíāi	τοῖν ἀφίαιν toîn aphíain	ταῖς ἀφίαις taîs aphíais
Accusative	τὴν ἀφίᾱν tḕn aphíān	τὼ ἀφίᾱ tṑ aphíā	τᾱ̀ς ἀφίᾱς tā̀s aphíās
Vocative	ἀφίᾱ aphíā	ἀφίᾱ aphíā	ἀφίαι aphíai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

References

“ἀφία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
ἀφία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
ἀφία in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
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