chamaeleon

chamaeleon (plural chamaeleons)

1. Alternative spelling of chameleon.

From Ancient Greek χαμαιλέων (khamailéōn), from χαμαί (khamaí, “on the earth, on the ground”) + λέων (léōn, “lion”); ultimately a calque from Akkadian 𒌨𒈤𒊭𒆠 (nēšu ša qaqqari, “chameleon, reptile”, literally “lion of the ground", "predator that crawls upon the ground”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kʰaˈmae̯.ɫe.oːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈmɛː.le.on]

chamaeleōn m (genitive chamaeleōnis or chamaeleontis); third declension

1. chameleon (a kind of lizard)
2. (sometimes feminine) carline thistle

Third-declension noun (two different stems).

• Catalan: camaleó
• Old French: cameleon
  • → Middle English: camelion
    • English: chameleon
  • French: caméléon
• → German: Chamäleon

• “chamaeleon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• chamaeleon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “chamaeleon”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• Critical and Philological Notes: Tablet XI, Note 314 in Andrew R. George (2003) The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Volume II, Oxford University Press, pages 896-897
• nēšu(m) in Black, Jeremy, George, Andrew, Postgate, Nicholas (2000) “chamaeleon”, in A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd corrected edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, via the electronic Babylonian Library, page 251